Falling home prices brought buyers into the market, but kept sellers out, according to October sales figures released this morning by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. Though the number of closed sales was up 32.1 percent last month, the median sale price of those deals was down 9.4 percent. The number of new listings fell 16.3 percent to the lowest level since 2004.
"It's something of a fallacy to call this a buyer's market," said Brad Fisher, president of the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors."Good quality homes that are priced right are in short supply. Buyer demand exists, but we need more sellers in the game."
The data suggests that would-be sellers are try to wait out the market either because they don't want to sell for less than they think their house is worth, or they can't sell because they owe more than they could sell it for in today's market. Most of the downward pressure on prices continues to come from fire-sale prices on foreclosures and short sales, which represented about a third of all sales.
Although demand for housing has been strong, there's going to be downward pressure on prices for some time to come.Data released Thursday by RealtyTrac says that after several months of declines in foreclosure activity, lenders are now stepping up foreclosure proceedings. Nationwide foreclosure filings last month increased 7 percent from September but were down 31 percent from October 2010. Minnesota, which had the 18th-highest number of foreclosure filings nationwide, saw a 15 percent increase from September and about the same number of filings as last year. That was one foreclosure filing for every 763 housing units compared with one in every 563 housing units nationwide.
![Mason Nadolney got his second COVID-19 vaccine shot during a mobile vaccine event at Chanhassen High School in July.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/J7LEBWHZ57AFGZSTIR2WYOQJ3A.jpg?h=91&w=145&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
What to know about the latest COVID variants, Minnesota testing, vaccines
Sign up for Star Tribune newsletters
![Nearly a dozen collected Bachman's warblers lie in a specimen tray.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/3KDGPJTGN5CRNG5PO5S5T35XUE.jpg?h=91&w=145&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
126 birds on list 'lost to science'
![Champlin Park volleyball player Carly Gilk posed for a photo by her mom, Shelley, when they arrived for the AMSA celebration at Target Field.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/QPHJLQJMYJDLFMFTYKDONXWDQY.jpg?h=91&w=145&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)