Edina Realty to Hold Second Open House Extravaganza Sunday

With housing industry insiders expecting an upswing in the market, Edina Realty on Sunday will hold the second of several Open House Extravaganzas this spring across the Twin Cities.

said it also plans to hold Open House Extravaganzas on Sundays April 29, May 6 and June 3.  

Check http://www.edinarealty.com for current listings and houses that will be held open, along with property details and door-to-door driving directions. The real estate firm held its first spring Open House Extravaganza in early March.

Edina Realty's mega Open House Sunday showing comes on the heels of some encouraging news in the local residential real estate market.

As for the 13-county Twin Cities region, the median sales price of a home saw its smallest year-over-year decline in 16 months, falling only 1.4 percent from February 2011 to $138,000. Realtors said the relatively small decline, along with a host of other statistics, could indicate that the area’s long real estate slump is nearing an end.

For example, homes now require an average of 144 days to sell, compared to 159 last February; it was the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year decreases in the average amount of time required to complete a sale.

The reason it’s a good time to sell is because there’s a shortage of homes for sale right now, according to Edina Realty officials. The housing market inventory is a little more than four months, the lowest since 2004, according to MAAR.

“Sellers are finding that their homes are selling more quickly, and some are even getting multiple offers, which can increase the final sales price,” Edina Realty president Barb Jandric said in a press statement. She added, "The market has turned. In fact, there’s actually a lot of pent-up demand for quality homes in good neighborhoods.

“Minnesota was one of the first markets to go into the housing correction, and we believe we are one of the first to come out,” Jandric added. “We have as favorable a market for sellers as we’ve experienced in the last eight years."

The spring market is when most real estate transactions take place. The Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington market ranked the top healthiest market in the nation, based on housing projections from Moody’s Economy.com.