Foreclosures Account for 43% of Twin Cities Home Sales

Foreclosure sales accounted for roughly 43 percent of home sale closings in the Twin Cities metropolitan area of Minnesota last month, and 40 percent of pending home sales contracts.
[IMAGE] ""While those market shares are in line with recent trends, they're still higher than what we would like to see,"" Brad Fisher, president of the ""Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors"":http://www.mplsrealtor.com.

Although overall purchase activity in March was down 17.6 percent, the foreclosure segment saw a 31.3 percent jump in pending sales and a 29.9 percent jump in closed sales in the Twin Cities area that encompasses Minneapolis and St. Paul, according to the local Realtor association.

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Foreclosure prices decreased 11 percent to $105,000; short sale prices decreased 6.9 percent to $134,950; and traditional prices decreased 3.5 percent to $192,000.

While the bargain status of lender-mediated homes helped their popularity surge among consumers, that same popularity pushed overall prices down 15.2 percent to $140,000, the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors reports.

Overall, pending sales in the 13-county Twin Cities metro area decreased 17.6 percent from March 2010 to 4,162 purchase agreements signed.

Sellers introduced 6,977 new properties to the market, which was 30.2 percent fewer than the year prior.

At the same time, inventory levels shrunk by 4.5 percent to 24,112 units - the lowest March inventory count since 2005. Fisher says this trend will help stabilize prices and restore balance to the market.

Cari Linn, president-elect of the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, notes that the Twin Cities area is building on 13 consecutive months of job growth, which she says ""bodes well for local real estate.""

""In addition to new housing demand, we should eventually see the mortgage delinquency rate drop and fewer distressed sales pressuring prices downward,"" Linn said.