How Twin Cities homebuyers and sellers fared in 2023
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2023 was "the year your first home accidentally became your forever home," according to Twin Cities real estate agent Jake Hlebain.
Why it matters: The year's record-low housing affordability might not be drawing to an end.
The big picture: Those who could afford to buy "had to bring more money to the table to make their payments comfortable," Jamar Hardy, Minneapolis Area Realtors president-elect, tells Axios.
Zoom out: U.S. home sales have cratered as many owners clamp down on their lower mortgage rates.
- "If there's nothing out there for me to buy, why would I sell? We are all kind of stuck in that paradigm right now," chief economist Matthew Gardner at Windermere Real Estate said at a November conference.
Zoom in: Prices increased slightly in the Twin Cities in 2023.
- The number of metro-area listings available to buy dropped from around 17,450 to 12,550 between October 2019 and October 2023, per the latest Redfin data.
The other side: Sellers were stressed about homes sitting on the market longer, Hardy says.
Between the lines: It's not all bad news. Twin Cities shoppers can find some deals this winter on new construction and townhomes.
- Also, a new state law creating a down payment assistance fund for first-generation homebuyers could help level the playing field, Hardy says.
The bottom line: Mortgage rates would need to slide significantly to loosen homeowners' golden handcuffs and boost listing activity, real estate experts say.
More on housing from Axios:
👷♀️ Shoppers' appetite for new construction has grown as fewer homeowners want to sell.
🏗 Minneapolis' apartment boom has landlords racing to offer rent concessions and other deals.
⚾️ About those new builds: Living in the much-hyped pads overlooking Target Field won't come cheap.
💰 Rents are growing slower here than other big metros, but they're still eating into young people's incomes.
- For some Twin Cities millennials, the only way to buy a house is with family money.
🏢 Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey backs office-to-apartment conversions, a trend that's gained traction in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Go deeper: Twin Cities homeowners' advice for aspiring buyers