While the Twin Cities baked in record-breaking temperatures during July, the local housing market maintained a cool down as pressure continued to be applied to the brakes of the boom years. Closed home sales in the 13-county metro area continued to decline, increases in median sales price slowed, and pending sales remained behind last yearís levels. The good news is that new inventory added to the system dropped off considerably during the month of July. Benefiting most from these trends are buyers and smart sellers.

New listings dropped by 12.74 percent from the previous month as 9,657 homes were added to the inventory of existing single-family homes, condominiums and town houses available for purchase.The total inventory remains high with more than 30,000 active listings reported on the Regional Multiple Listing Service of Minnesota. The number of new listings added to the system for 2006 is 15.14 percent ahead of last year. A total of 70,853 new listings have been reported to date.

When compared to one year ago, sales were down 18.73 percent in July 2006 with 4,872 reported closed home sales. Closed home sales for the year-to-date are trailing last yearís record-breaking number by 11.38 percent. To date, 28,708 closed home sales have been reported compared to 32,394 sales at the same time last year.

The reported median sales price of homes in the 13-county metro continued to edge upward in July compared to one year ago, but the move was slight at only 0.93 percent. The median sales price in July 2006 was reported at $235,459 compared to $233,300 in July 2005. However, there was a dip in median sales price from the previous month of 0.59 percent.

ìWeíre starting to see buyers putting pressure on sellers when the median sales price slows, as it has, in comparison to the high levels of inventory,î said June Wiener, president of the Saint Paul Area Association of REALTORSÆ. ìThis is natural and beneficial to anyone looking to purchase a home in our market and weíll continue to see this force until the inventory levels drop.î

Pending sales continued to lag behind previous yearsí levels due in large part to the lack of buyers in the market. July 2006 pending sales were down 22.32 percent compared to July 2005 as 4,570 pending sales were reported. However, over the past seven months pending sales have been trailing 2005 numbers by 16.80 percent. Generally pending sales are a reliable indicator of future closed home sales, indicating a continued slowing in the local residential real estate market.

In response to the pending sales numbers Wiener noted, ìWhile we are disappointed with the pending sales reported in July, it is not surprising in that we were saturated with buyers over the past five explosive years in the residential real estate market.î She added, ìThis is a normal adjustment in the market and it will take time to balance out.î

Housing statistics include existing single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses. Statistics are provided by the Saint Paul Area Association REALTORSÆ and are based on the closed existing homes sales as reported by the Regional Multiple Listing Service.

For more information about Twin Cities area home sales statistics, contact Patrick Ruble at 651-772-6343 or pruble@spaar.com.