Rochester MN Real Estate Market Blog

Last week, the stock market declined and mortgage rates fell, as investors worried about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and oil prices reached record highs. In a pivotal reversal, the opposite took place this week. With increased confidence in the financial sector and lower oil prices, the Dow gained over 400 points. As investors returned to stock assets, they sold relatively safer investments such as bonds, which pushed mortgage rates higher.

While Fannie and Freddie dominated most of the headlines this week, Fed Chief Bernanke presented the latest Fed forecast for the economy during his testimony before Congress. The Fed lowered its projections for economic growth for 2008 and 2009 and expressed concern about the risk of higher inflation. Bernanke described the inflation outlook as “unusually uncertain”. From Bernanke’s comments, investors concluded that the Fed’s primary goal right now is to promote stability in financial markets, rather than fighting inflation, and they expect the Fed to hold rates steady in the near-term.

The news in the housing sector was mixed. June Housing Starts rose 9%, far above the consensus. Similarly, June Building Permits, a leading indicator of future housing market activity, rose 12%, which also far exceeded the forecasts. However, a change in the New York City building codes contributed much of the gains. Separately, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) sentiment index fell to a record low in July.

The Second Mortgage Industry continues to restrict as well primarily caused by concerns in the banking arena.  Many banks announced this week further conservative guidelines or have made the decision to exit this business as further stock pressures arose.

There were 35 new listings last week in Rochester, MN (avg list price of $221,047, median $159,900) and 19 listings coming back on the market (avg list price of $233,205, median $179,900, avg of 275 days on the market).

Last week (June 30 to July 6, 2008) 25 listings went under contract to pending with an average list price of $205,800 (median $159,900) and average market time of 108 days. There were 57 closings (homes sold). The average sold price of $198,883 was 95.18% of the original list price, 98.22% of the asking price ($202,484). Market time for these properties was 171 days.

There are currently 1109 residential properties listed for sale in Rochester, Minnesota, with an average list price of $242,363 and average market time of 156 days.

July already!

There are currently 1096 homes for sale in Rochester, MN with an average list price of $240,352 and average market time of 151 days.

Last week (June 23 to 29, 2008) 34 homes sold (went under contract to pending) with an average list price of $168,572 and 116 days market time. There were 54 closings; average sold price of $207,355 was 96.43% of the original list price and 98.92% of the asking price (avg. $209,627). Market time for these properties averaged 91 days.

There were 45 new listings last week with an average list price of $177,535, and 13 listings came back on the market (avg. list price $183,976, avg. mkt time of 152 days). Three listings were withdrawn, 25 cancelled, 8 expired, and 27 were extended.

There are currently 1129 residential properties listed for sale in Rochester, Minnesota, with an average list price of $240,442 (median $184,900) and an average of 157 days on the market.

Last week (June 16-22, 2008) 39 homes sold (went under contract to pending). These properties had an average list price of $176,496 (median $149,900) and average market time of 97 days. During this time, there were 59 closings. Average market time for these properties was 144 days. At $235,996, the average sold price was, on average, 105.62% of the original list price and 110.32% of the asking price ($213,916).

There were 56 new listings last week with average list price of $205,746 (median $157,900) and 12 listings that came back on th emarket (avg. list price of $207,041, med. $169,900, and avg. mkt. time of 179 days). One listing was withdrawn, 14 cancelled, 12 expired, and 15 were extended.

As expected, the members of the Federal Open Market Committee voted to hold their key fed fund rate unchanged.  Today’s decision is the first time the Fed has held short-term interest rates steady since they embarked on a series of rate cuts that dates back to last September.

            In their much anticipated post-meeting policy statement, policymakers signaled that while the economy still faces some rather stiff headwinds, the chance of a severe economic slowdown or outright recession has diminished.  The Committee went on to say, “In light of the continued increase in the prices of energy and some other commodities and the elevated state of some indicators of inflation and the elevated state of inflation expectations, uncertainty about the inflation outlook remains high.”  

            The initial sell off in the mortgage market was created by that last sentence. All many mortgage investors heard was the “. uncertainty about the inflation outlook remains high” phrase.  After the initial knee-jerk sell off in the mortgage market calmer, cooler heads have since entered the market - realizing that the Fed stopped well short of suggesting an imminent acceleration of inflation pressures is likely - which by extension also means attendant short-term interest rate hikes are not likely to develop any time soon either

            I look for mortgage investors to remain very cautious with their pricing - at least until he Treasury’s auction of $20 billion in 5-year notes ends tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. ET.  Once the auction is over - I think the potential for upside investor price gains will improve notably. 

Last week (June 2 through 8, 2008) 59 new listings came onto the residential real estate market in Rochester, MN with a median list price of $174,900 and an average list price of $237,497. An additional 16 listings came back onto the market with an average market time of 181 days and average list price of $203,590 (median list price of $186,000).

Forty-five listings went to pending (under contract) last week. Average list price was $188,873 (median of $167,500) and an average of 134 days on the market. There were 51 closings (sold) with average market time of 87 days. The average sold price of $193,488 was 94.55% of the original list price, 98.46% of the list price ($196,519 avg.).

Last week, 19 listings expired, 18 cancelled, two were withdrawn, and 13 were extended.

There are currently 1140 residential properties listed for sale in Rochester, with an average list price of $241,057 (median $184,900) and an average of 155 days on the market.

There are currently 1144 residential properties for sale in Rochester, Minnesota with an average list price of $240,961 and average of 155 days on the market.

Last week (May 26, 2008 through June 1, 2008) 40 listings went under contract (to pending). Average list price for these homes was $192,341; average market time was 126 days. The average sales price for the 97 homes closing last week ($183,625) was 98.43% of the listing price($186,559) and 95.03% of the original list price. Average market time for these homes was 125 days.

There were 54 new listings last week (average list price of $225,022), 11 came back on the market (average list price of $241,000, 211 days on the market), 16 listings expired, 15 listings cancelled, and 32 listings were extended.

Last week (May 19 to 25) 52 homes sold (went under contract to pending), 55 homes closed, there were 53 new listings, and 16 properties that came back on the market in Rochester, Minnesota.  Six listings expired, 15 cancelled, and 12 listings were extended.

There are currently 1170 active listings in Rochester with a median list price of $184,900, average list price of $238,301 and an average of 157 days on the market.

For homes closing last week (55) the median sold price was $178,200. THe average sold price of $198,954 was 97.93% of the list price, 94.44% of the original list price. Average market time for these properties was 114 days.

Homes going under contract last week (52) had an average of 81 days on the market and an average list price of $180,824.

New listings (53) had an average list price of $194,327, while those coming back on the market (16) had an average list price of $205,867.

There are currently 1172 residential properties for sale in Rochester, Minnesota.  Average list price for these homes is $237,512; average market time is 154 days.

Last week (May 12 to 18, 2008) 43 homes went under contract (to pending) with an average list price of $190,550 and an average of 140 days on the market.  There were 49 closings last week; the average sold price of $210,602 was 97.8% of the asking price and 92.9% of the original list price.

There were 67 new listings (average list price of $233,397) and 12 listings back on the market (average list price was $181,341).  One listing was withdrawn, 21 cancelled, and 8 expired.

In Rochester, Minnesota there are currently 1169 residential listings with an average list price of $236,425 and 156 days on the market.

Last week (May 5 to 11, 2008) 62 homes went to pending (under contract).  The average list price for these homes was $206,868 and average market time was 115 days.  There were also 62 new listings (average list price $220,427) and 24 that came back onto the market ($246,818 avg. list price).

There were 23 homes sold last week.  The average sold price of $197,786 was 97.86% of asking price, 93.23% of original list price.

Last week 26 listings canceled, 11 expired and one was withdrawn.