Eric Hempler

I decided to do a long version of the monthly market report versus the summary I created earlier.

The number of homebuyers viewing homes continues to rise as the number of new listings declines. Although we're not certain when it will happen this chart suggests a Seller's Market is coming.

The number of homes receiving offers continues to rise as fewer listings enter the market place. Currently the Absorption Rate is 6.48 Months of Inventory, which is a Balanced Market and continues to trend closer to a Seller's Market.

• Buyer's Market = More than 7 Months of Inventory
• Balanced Market = 5 - 7 Months of Inventory
• Seller's Market = Less than 5 Months of Inventory

Here's a comparison of the different Inventory Trends I tract. Some of these indicators may not be a clue to the direction the Housing Market in the Twin Cities is going, but I thought I would use as many items as I could.

The Median Sale Price Trend continues to level off and is currently at $153,942, down only $300 from last month's trend.

I thought I would experiment a little with how I present my market updates.

This past month I thought I would write my market updates in a little different format by summarizing pieces and then listing the posts on a single entry.

• Luxury Inventory Continues to Fall
• Home Sale Failure Rate Gives Clues to Housing Inventory
• Inventory Levels Plummet While Distressed Homes Take Their Sweet Time
• Homebuyer Activity Remains High

Next month I may just write one long post on market conditions.

The Inventory Plunge in Rosemount keeps looking bigger and bigger.

The Absorption Rate in Rosemount for February 2012 was 3.77 Months of Inventory and has trended into a Seller's Market at 4.9 Months of Inventory.

The Median Sale Price did trend up in January and has remained flat going into February.

Even the monthly numbers are showing improvement over the previous year. It's becoming more and more obvious several communities in the Twin Cities Area will enter a Seller's Market this year.

In the chart below we see the number of homes that have failed to sell continues to decline and is now below 2006 numbers.

The last time I talked about the Home Selling Failure Rate I was tracking this stat with a monthly indicator. Now I'm tracking it based on a 12 Month Average so we can see what direction the trend is going.

As the Home Selling Failure Rate continues to decline we're going to see a stronger Housing Market in the Twin Cities.

This is a new item I've been tracking and I'll be interested to see how well it sends clues of a Buyer's, Balanced or Seller's Market.

If it does anything at all it tells us what direction the Real Estate Market will be heading in a few months. In the chart below The Homes Fails to Sell Trend does show what direction the Months of Inventory will be heading in the future.

(Found out more on the Market)

Just for a little change of pace I thought I would write something a bit more entertaining for Friday.

I come across humorous anecdotes about Chuck Norris from time to time and I got to thinking...what if Chuck Norris was in Real Estate?

I did a quick search and found at least a couple of examples.

• If Chuck Norris was in Real Estate, he would only sell round houses.

Here's one Agent's Take

• Chuck Norris will base the value of your home by how much is left standing after he kicks it.
• Chuck Norris once scared a house out of escrow.
• Chuck Norris doesn’t drive clients to see houses on the market … he throws them there.
• When Chuck Norris got his real estate license … 200 homes simultaneously passed out.
• Chuck Norris held an open house once … held it over his head for 4 hours.
• On Chuck Norris’ real estate website, there is only one house for sale … the one that Chuck Norris allows you to buy.
• Chuck Norris popped the housing market bubble … with a toothpick.

Here's a good one by Erica Muller out of Orlando.