Rochester MN Real Estate Market Blog

With the 2008 real estate market behind us I’m looking forward to 2009.  With interest rates at all time lows I’m anticipating an early start to our sales season which usually builds to full steam in March.  In the next few days I will have actual sales stats for 2008.  So far we know that sales and new listings were down about 15% and prices have dropped but moderately compared to the rest of the country.  Look for an update to this blog in the coming days for those numbers.  My predictions for 2009 will be for a continued but moderate loss of value.  We will see the brunt of the foreclosures hit the market in 2009 and that will be good news or bad depending on which side of the transaction your’re on.  Good news for buyers looking at the best affordability index in years.  Bargain prices on these foreclosure homes for sale along with bargain interest rates make this an irresistible time to buy.  Sellers on the other hand will be competing with these foreclosure homes and their prices will be need to be adjusted accordingly in order to remain competitive.  The foreclosure market will affect all price ranges as well.  There a couple near million dollars homes being offered by banks at this point in time.  Barring any major job market changes, I also think we are at the bottom of our sales losses and I anticipate a sales rate to be on par with last year.

Related posts:

1. 2008 Year End Sales Numbers
2. Wake up, Shift Happens
3. Interest Rate Commentary
4. Real estate refinancings hit 4-year low
5. Understanding the “Foreclosure Crisis”