Market Update - October 2022

Hello, and welcome to another market recap, brought to you by VIBE Realty. This is a place where we analyze the Twin Cities real estate market from month-to-month, and break it down to try to better understand what's actually happening in our market. If you've been following along at all, you know it's been getting very interesting, as it appears the market has begun to shift in a different direction. We were anticipating October to bring us some interesting data once the numbers were available, and did it ever...let's examine. 

Normally I would highlight the most extreme change somewhere in the body or towards the end of this, but this time it's really a big deal, so I'll get on with it. One of the biggest indicators of what type of market we are in is the Average Days on Market, and we have been keeping a close on that for a long time now. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have not seen this number go above 20, which means, on average,  a house would take fewer than three weeks to sell. The average over the past few years has been right around 12-14 days...October came in at 36 days, increasing by 17 days over September. Not only is that the highest number we've seen in a long time, but it's also by far the quickest we have moved in any direction. Throughout the last year, the largest change was by five total days...

The Average and Median Sale Price continued their downward trends for the fourth consecutive month, with the average landing at $422k, and the median at $358k. These numbers are actually quite close to what we saw in the spring this year, before they peaked in the summertime. The Months Supply of Inventory only crept up by .1, bringing us to 1.9 months total. While not the most drastic increase, it's still at its highest all year.

New Listing inventory almost always goes down a bit at this time of year, and this year is no different. It dropped by over 1,000 from September, landing at 4,750 homes, but the biggest thing that stands out here is that we are almost 1,200 homes fewer than we were at last October. The Total Inventory of all units has been hovering right around 8,000 since June, and didn't change that much here either, coming in at 8,745. However, the Total Units Sold took a pretty steep dive, going down by over 1,000 and landing at 3,467.

So what are we to extrapolate from these numbers? Well, it appears a shift is here and happening right now. Interest rates have continued to trend upwards, and while inventory could barely keep up with demand for the past few years, it seems now that buyers have more options than they've had in a long time. While some of the numbers and trends are pretty normal for the time of year we're in, the days on market and total units sold changing so suddenly is a clear indicator that homes are taking longer to sell.

As the market shifts (quickly, I might add), life will go on. People will move, and homes will continue to transfer to new owners. How fast and for how much can largely depend on who you have in your corner representing you. If you are planning a real estate move anytime in the near future, connect with an agent here at VIBE to help you with the process. We pay attention to these changes, and are prepared to help you with whatever your real estate needs are.

Thanks for reading, and we'll catch you next month.