Roseville's Median Home Price Climbs in April

The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors (MAAR) reported this week that April’s median home prices in Roseville jumped 15.8 percent percent from the same month a year earlier.

Roseville's median home price was $187,000 in April, up from $161,500 the same month in 2011, according to MAAR data. That uptick mirrored the  rising fortunes of the Twin Cities-area housing market where the median home price posted a 12.4 percent year-over-year increase.

Meanwhile, while the number of completed home sales in Roseville dropped  from 22 in April of 2011 to 20 this past month; the city's year-to-date total closed sales is up 38.2 percent from the same period in 2011. There were 94 completed home sales for the first four months of 2012 compared with 68 for the same period in 2011, MAAR reported.

"We're continuing to see increasing units (in home sales)," said Lisa Meyer, branch manager of Edina Realty's Roseville office. She noted that her company has been seeing a 30 to 40 percent increase in the volume of home sales.

Meyer added that her real estate agents are seeing multiple offers on many homes, crediting that trend to a lower housing inventory and pent-up buyer demand.

Another sign of the strong market is the percent of the original list price that sellers are receiving on their homes. That figure was 90.4 in April in Roseville, up from 86.8 percent the prior April, according to MAAR. 

Meyer said yet another factor aiding the housing market is mortgage rates at 60-year historic lows. On Friday, home buyers could get 15-year mortgages for as little as 2.875 percent and 3.75 percent on a fixed-rate, 30-year mortgage, she said.

As a result, it's a good time for people interested in selling their homes, Meyer said. "Your house may be worth more than you think."

Across the Twin Cities region, Realtors pointed to several signs that the real estate market is bouncing back.

In general, Minnesota homes are selling at their fastest pace in some time and prices are continuing to climb over the same levels reported a year earlier. The median sales price for the Twin Cities metro area for April 2012 was $163,000, up 12.4 percent from April 2011. That's the largest year-over-year jump since January 2004.

On average, homes sold in 135 days, down 14.9 percent from last April. Sellers received an average of 93.3 percent of their list price, up from 90.1 percent last April. Cash buyers made up 20.7 percent of all closed sales, down from 24.8 percent at this time in 2011.

"We're impressed with the accelerating improvements," said Andy Fazendin, MAAR’s president-elect. "High-quality, move-in-ready inventory is limited. Those waiting for falling prices will likely be disappointed."

The number of homes for sale has dropped for 15 consecutive months, down 29.2 percent from last year to 17,312 active listings – the lowest inventory reading for any month since January 2004. Months supply of inventory—the amount of time it would take to sell every home on the market--dropped 44 percent to 4.6 months, the lowest reading for any month since August 2005.

Foreclosures and short sales continue to decline as a percentage of real estate transactions. Traditional sales made up 57.1 percent of all closings and went for about 50 percent more than foreclosures, generating the strong gain in overall median sales price.