December Real Estate Report: Still a Seller's Market

It is a great time to sell your Shakopee home, at least compared to last year at this time, according to data released Friday by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors.

According to MAAR's numbers for December 2012, the supply of homes on the market is only slightly more than half the number from December 2011, 109 versus 206. The number of new listings is also down, from 54 in December 2011 to 36 in December 2012.

Predictably, a drop in supply is driving up prices. Median sales price in December 2011 was $151,059, but that number has jumped to $219,000 a year later, a 45-percent increase. Homes are spending less time on the market as well, 67 days last December compared to 206 days a year earlier, a 57.9-percent change.

Average price per square foot was $100 last December, up from $86 in December 2011.

For the year, new listings were down 19 percent in 2012 compared to the previous year, from 907 to 734. The number of completed sales was also down, though not nearly as drastically. Closed sales dipped from 626 in 2011 to 600 in 2012, a change of just 4.2 percent.

The complete report is available from the MAAC website.