Our team is beyond excited to be featured in this month’s Mpls/St. Paul Magazine’s Love Where You Live special May issue! The edition dives into the current hot housing market within the Twin City communities highlighting noteworthy trends, county comparisons, and cities on the rise.
As your go-to real estate experts, we are determined to always be one step ahead, staying current on all aspects of the industry, so we can continuously provide success-driven strategies for our clients. So, inclusion in this particular Mpls/St. Paul Magazine’s Love Where You Live issue really hit home for us… pun intended! We LOVE our work, we LOVE serving our clients, and we LOVE the communities that we work, play, and live in. It’s our job and absolute pleasure to ensure that YOU LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE! Keep reading for some key takeaways and, if you haven’t already, get your hands on a copy of this issue to get all the important details!
Cities on The Rise:
Listed below are some of the top cities around the metro showing the highest percent of median price growth since 2016:
North Metro
Grant – 58.5%
Columbus – 52.1%
Spring Lake Park – 48.3%
West Metro
Wayzata – 69%
Excelsior – 58.3%
Tonka Bay – 40.1%
East Metro
Lilydale – 83.5%
Bayport – 82.3%
Newport – 64.1%
South Metro
Shakopee – 37.4%
Cologne – 35.6%
West St. Paul – 35.5%
Building Market Update:
In the Spring of 2020, many people thought the housing market would crash because of the pandemic but, it actually had the opposite affect! Single family home permits in Jan-Mar 2021 are up 50% over Jan-Mar of 2020 according to Housing First Minnesota with the biggest factors being:
- Low interest rates
- Low inventory
- The dramatic evolution of how people think of their homes due to COVID because of the increased time spent at home and the possibility for many to work from home indefinitely
However, building has also experienced its side of difficulties as well including:
- A tight construction labor market
- Backorder issues where customers are waiting 8-10 months for projects to commence
- Lumber prices soaring by 170% within the past year
Even so, the demand is still there because people are realizing, these days more than ever, how unpredictable life can be causing them to see their dreams of building or remodeling well worth the long delay and high cost.
A Whole New Meaning to Home:
Now that people are spending more time at home, they have identified the need for various different efficient spaces that may not have been as necessary previously such as designated mudrooms with ample storage and larger, more efficient kitchens with spacious pantries to accommodate for more at-home dining. Whether it’s moving to a different house, building a new home, completely remodeling, or just redesigning certain rooms to make the layout more conducive to our new ways of living, people have definitely reprioritized their visions and demands for the ideal home. However, the most prevalent demand is to have at least one home office. Rather than just visualizing a small space within another room where a make-shift home office could be created, people are wanting at least one dedicated room to work from. Consequently, staging home offices when selling a house has become much more important nowadays.
Overall Spring Market Check-In:
The pandemic sent what was already a seller’s market into overdrive and now that it’s nearing the end of Spring, we are seeing:
- Continued low interest rates
- Elevated demand
- Continued low inventory
This makes for an intensely competitive market for buyers in which it is common to see, and in many cases the necessary means, buyers making offers that waive inspection and that are well above asking price. Sight unseen offers are also continuing to occur as a strategy for the high competition. Whether you are a buyer, a seller, or both in this current market you should not be discouraged and rather, be motivated! We are here for you as a valuable resource no matter what stage you are at – we’d love to chat!
Stats and context from the May 2021 issue of MPLS ST PAUL MAG.