Posts Tagged ‘Short Sale’

Twin Cities’ home prices continue downward trend

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Residential Index CoverOctober’s uptick in the median price of a Twin Cities traditional-sale home (not a short sale or foreclosure) didn’t last long. The numbers are now in for November, and they show that traditional-sale prices have resumed a downward trend that began in July.

According to an analysis released today by the Shenehon Center for Real Estate at the University of St. Thomas’ Opus College of Business, the median price of a traditional-sale home in the 13-county Twin Cities market decreased from $189,600 in October to $185,500 in November.

The St. Thomas Residential Real Estate Price Report Index, now in its sixth month, tracks the median prices for traditional home sales, short sales (homes sold for a price less than the outstanding mortgage balance), and sales where the home’s mortgage has been foreclosed.

In all three categories, the median prices have fallen below the lowest levels recorded in 2009.

Altogether, the Residential Real Estate Price Report Index tracks a total of nine data elements to measure the health of the Twin Cities market.  For comparison purposes and to gauge how the market is doing, the university assigned a baseline index value of 1,000 to January 2005, a month that was near the apex of the residential housing bubble. Each month’s index can be compared to the previous month, year or market peak to understand the relative strength and direction of the Twin Cities housing market.

Here’s how things looked in November for the three categories of sales: (more…)

The Housing Story: A Tale of Two Markets

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011

Foreclosed Home WinterThe story about the Minneapolis housing markets hitting a new low has been big news.  This story is based on the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index released at the end of March, but what do these numbers really mean for the Minneapolis/St. Paul market?  The recently released Case-Shiller data from January 2011 in Minneapolis shows a 3.4% decrease in home values from December ’10 to January ’11 and a 7.6% decrease in value from January ’10 to January ’11.  These numbers alone do not tell the whole story.  The full story revolves around how the market is influenced by changes in the types of homes currently being sold.

The first fact that is important to understand is how the Case-Shiller data is gathered.  According to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Indices Fact Sheet:

“The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices began as a research project in the 1980’s when Karl E. Case and Robert J. Shiller began to construct a methodology to measure housing price movement. They developed the repeat sales pricing technique, still considered the most accurate way to measure this asset class. The methodology measures the movement in price of single-family homes in certain regions. This is done by collecting data on sale prices of specific single-family homes in the region. Each sale price is considered a data point. When a specific home is resold, months or years later, the new sale price is matched to the home’s first sale price. These two data points are called a “sale pair.” The difference in the sale pair is measured and recorded. All the sales pairs in a region are then aggregated into one index. “

There are two different markets that have developed reflecting two different types of housing sales in the Twin Cities market.   (more…)