Seasonality of Real Estate in Minnesota
December 22, 2023Generally speaking, in cold climates like that of Minnesota, the home buying and selling decisions are primarily based on the weather and school season. Due to this, most people are buying and selling in the spring and summer months. This affects many relevant statistics for real estate which we will look at below. The information was provided by the Saint Paul Area Association of Realtors.
Median Sales Price
You can see in the graph above the see-saw motion of median sales price. The prices generally peak in May/June and then continue to decline until they bottom out around January. If you are interested in getting top dollar for your home you would be best to list in May/June. However, as a buyer, if you are looking for the best deal you might want to start looking around October/November and hope to land a deal by January when prices start to rise again.
Days on Market
As you can tell from this graph, the days on market also fluctuate on a similar interval as median sales price. Since there are more buyers looking in the spring and summer months the days on market falls due to more demand during those time periods. Generally, days on market slightly lag median sales price and peak in January/February and bottom out in June/July. If you are interested to sell your home as quickly as possible it would be prudent to list in May/June.
Inventory
You can tell there is a definite pattern with these graphs, the seasonality of real estate is very evident. Inventory levels also fluctuate in a much similar fashion as median sales price. You can see that the bumps are more rounded reflecting that inventory holds at the higher “summer” levels for longer than the lower “winter” levels. This has been changing in recent years if you look closely. The inventory levels peak between July and September so if more options are important to you as a homebuyer, we would recommend targeting your search around those months.
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