Twin Cities Housing Market Shows Signs of Stabilization

March was a positive month for the Twin Cities housing market, according to a report released Tuesday by the ""Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors"":http://www.mplsrealtor.com/ (MAAR).

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Using data from the regional multiple listing service of Minnesota, MAAR found that the number of new listings, active listings, pending sales, and closed sales in the Twin Cities all experienced positive gains from February to March.

New listings increased 39 percent from February, and active listings jumped 11 percent. In addition, pending sales surged 43 percent, and closed sales soared 52 percent

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from February to March, marking the third consecutive month-over-month increase.

Greg Cecchettini, ""RE/MAX"":http://www.remax.com/ North Central's director of franchise development, said while listings are up, inventory is down. ""Although the number of new listings increased significantly on a month-to-month basis, the normal seasonal increase in activity pushed along by the homebuyer tax credit has actually brought the overall inventory down from a year ago,"" he explained.

According to Cecchettini, the number of homes available per buyer in the market is currently at 4.39 homes. Two years ago, in April 2008, the supply-demand ratio was at 7.28 homes per buyer, and last year it was at 5.02.

MAAR also found that the median sale price for homes sold in the Minneapolis metro area inched up 4 percent from February's $159,000 to $165,000 in March. And on a year-over-year basis, the median sales price was up 7.1 percent.

""For the third month in a row, home prices in the Twin Cities 13-county metropolitan area showed a year-over-year increase,"" Cecchettini said. ""We haven't seen three consecutive months of progressively increasing year-over-year growth since June 2004.""