.metrohome sales continue decline*
Sales in September were down 23 percent from a year earlier. Realtors pointed to tighter lending guidelines and sagging consumer confidence.
Despite near-record-low mortgage rates, home sales in the Twin Cities metro area so far this year have been among the slowest in more than a decade, according to data from the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors.
September’s 3,116 closed sales were down 23 percent from the same period last year, while sales from January through September in the 13-county metro area dropped 15.8 percent, the association said in its monthly report.
There is a silver lining: Protracted market times and bargain-hunting buyers are causing prospective sellers to pause. During September, the number of new listings was down nearly 10 percent compared with September 2006. That has some agents hoping that high inventory levels will finally retreat and that the market has hit bottom.
The situation is similar across the country, judging from another report released Wednesday.
The National Association of Realtors said U.S. home sales during 2007 are expected to be 10.8 percent lower than last year.
That was the eighth time the Realtors association revised its annual forecast downward this year. If the revision is accurate, home sales nationwide will be at the lowest level since 2002.
The association was more optimistic about prices. It said the median price this year would drop 1.3 percent compared with last year, a revision from an earlier forecast that the median would fall 1.7 percent.
In the Twin Cities, officials at both the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors and the St. Paul association attributed the decline in sales to tighter lending guidelines and to sagging consumer confidence driven by negative news reports about the market.
“We see motivated buyers and sellers in our market,” said Deb Greene, president of the Minneapolis association. “But at the same time, we’re now experiencing a return to more traditional, stricter lending practices that were in effect before the boom.”
Greene also blamed slower sales on greater scrutiny of appraisals, income and employment history.
Source: startribune.com