MINNEAPOLIS - For sale signs are blooming in neighborhoods across the Twin Cities.
Herb Tousley, director of the real estate program at the University of St. Thomas, says rising home prices are padding pockets for some Twin Cities homeowners.
“They don’t stay on the market very long. You will see a sign go up and a couple days later there will be a sold sign on it,” he said. “Everyone knows home prices have been going up. We took a look at how much they have come up since the low point back in February of 2012. It was remarkable how much they had come up. It was a little over $82,000 in median sale price, up about 43 percent.”
There are pros and cons to everything. The rising home prices have helped increase demand for homes, but stifled the opportunity to purchase a home.
“As a first-time home buyer you just have to be patient. You are probably going to look at a lot of homes. When you see the right opportunity, make sure you are ready to act, because there’s a lot of competition,” he said.
Tousley also said the demand has created a path for people to become residential realtors.
“Business has been really good for residential realtors. If you go into the business, you know it takes time to get yourself established, but it is good to do that at a time when business is good,” he said. “Might not be a bad time to get started.”
Tousley said median sale prices increased 3.3 percent between March and April, $258,000 to $266,500 respectively. While this is positive for sellers, this rate of increase could create affordability issues for some potential buyers, since this rate of increase is much higher than the growth rate of area income.
To see the complete report, visit the Shenehon Center’s complete report for April 2018 online. The report is also available for free via email from Tousley at hwtousley1@stthomas.edu.