Twin Cities home listings, sales go ‘from Mach 3 to Mach 1’

Compared with the frenetic record-setting pace during the last half of 2020, the housing market in the Twin Cities this fall is starting to look a bit more normal. Just a little.

Last month there were just 5,590 pending home sales in the Twin Cities metro, 14% fewer than the year before, according to a joint monthly sales report released Monday from the Minneapolis Area Realtors (MAR) and the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors.

There weren’t as many sellers, either. At the end of the month there were nearly 16% fewer houses for sale compared with last year.

“It is slowing, but it’s nowhere near a balanced market,” said Brenda Tushaus, chief executive at Eden Prairie-based Re/Max Results. “People are starting to feel that seasonal adjustment we normally feel at this time of year.”

Real estate agents say the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the 2020 spring buying season into the last half of the year, blurring all normal year-over-year comparisons. Still, by virtually every measure, this fall has been one of the strongest seller’s markets of the past decade.

Though there were fewer house closings compared with last year, there were more buyers than sellers in some parts of the metro last month, triggering multiple offers that helped boost the median sale to $341,750 — more than 10% higher than last year, according to the new report.

Houses also sold more quickly and for a higher price than in previous years. On average, houses sold in just 23 days

“We are still in a period where year-over-year comparisons can be skewed,” said MAR President Todd Walker. “We’ve gone from Mach 3 to Mach 1. Still a fast pace, but agents are seeing fewer multiple offers.”

At the current pace there are only enough listings on the market to last 1.5 months, the lowest figure for any September going back two decades. Historically, the market is considered balanced between buyers and sellers when there’s a five- to six-months supply of listings.

The decline in sales has in part been triggered by a decline in house listings.Last month there were just 7,238 new listings, a nearly 9% decline compared with last year.

Despite the decline in pending sales, home sales in the Twin Cities are still on pace to beat last year by a sizable margin. From January through September, closings were up more than 6% compared with last year but the total number of new listings are on part with 2020.

Also on Tuesday, Zillow’s monthly market report showed that the U.S. market is becoming less…