Twin Cities Home Prices Reach Highest Point On Record

Twin Cities home prices hit an all-time record high during the month of June, the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors said Tuesday. The median closing price of a home hit $242,000.
 
That exceeds the previous record of $238,000 set in June 2006 at the height of the housing bubble.
 
“What we can say with 100 percent certainty is that there has never been a nominal median sales price for the whole metro region that has exceeded $242,000,” David Arbit, director of research at MAAR, said about the new record price. (Arbit, however, noted that his organization’s report did not account for inflation.)
 
MAAR began monitoring median sales prices and other related information in 2003.
 
A low supply of housing options continued to fuel demand and, ultimately, closing prices. The average seller received 98.7 percent of their list price, while the average home was sold within 55 days, which is 16.7 percent faster than June of 2015.
 
Additionally, Judy Shields, president of MAAR, said economic influences were a primary driver to the new all-time high.
 
“This market is grounded in good fundamentals: supply and demand, smarter lending standards, job and wage growth, population growth, healthier household finances and rising rents,” she said. “In the lead-up to 2006, home prices were driven by exuberance and lax lending standards. [Therefore], prices returning to 2006 levels is nothing to fear.”
 
Furthermore, Cotty Lowry, president-elect at MAAR noted, “it shouldn’t be all that surprising that we’re back to where we were ten years ago... Clearly the Twin Cities economy is booming, even though buyers are still eager for more listings.”