Written by VIBE Owner/Broker Steve Anderson
That's a wrap!
Just when we thought maybe we'd kick off a more traditional new year - BAM! Omicron has essentially taken a hold of the Twin Cities, and many of us find ourselves reliving some of the practices of past quarantines, isolations, canceled events, etc...as I write this, even our household is all COVID-positive (we're doing okay), and part of us it feels like this will never end. However, news from parts of the world that are ahead of us does seem encouraging. At least for now.
So how did 2021 leave us in regards to the housing market? We left off acknowledging the roller coaster of a year it had been, but ever so curious of what the 12th and final month of the year would tell us. Let's take a look at how it shook out.
Saving the juicy stuff for the end, we'll start off with the average sale price. This came in at just over $389k, which is slightly down from the month prior. This number is over
$30k higher than it was at the same time last year *insert cartoon-like gulp*. The median sale price dropped quite a bit, mirroring March at $330k.
Days on market continued its mountain climb by going up two days (again), and for the fifth month in a row is starting to sound like a broken record. This is now at the highest it's been since February, but I would make a bold prediction that it does not continue this direction as we head into the spring market.
Here's where it gets interesting. The amount of new listings that hit the market last month was 2,433, but the total amount of units sold was 4,826 - bringing the total inventory on the market all the way down to 4,234. This is by far the lowest of the year, and brought the month's supply of inventory down to .8 - we are running out of houses, people!
Now we see that December tells a tale of hunkering down (again), and people willing to prioritize housing above all else. There are a multitude of factors causing this to happen, but low interest rates and fear of them rising, combined with the uncertain future of the pandemic seem to stand out towards the top. Regardless of how the new year begins, now more than ever, prioritize the knowledge of a market expert if you are going to make a real estate move in this market. VIBE agents stay on top of all of this so you don't have to, and we'd love to help.
Thanks for reading!
