ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- Home sales bounced back across Minnesota in 2012, reversing a four-year slide that brought anguish to many a worried seller and despairing buyer. The snapshot provided Tuesday by the Minnesota Association of Realtors suggests that conditions have at last settled down into a more steady, predictable environment.
In Olmsted County, with Rochester transactions driving most activity, 4,456 homes sold last year. And sellers got 93.8% of their original listing price. The pace of sales activity was up from 2011, but it was just a slight uptick.
Across all of southeastern Minnesota, there were 10,683 closed sales -- that's up 1.4% from the year before. By contrast, the Twin Cities region roared back in 2012 with a jump of 17.4% in closed sales. But nearly 13% of those transactions in the seven-county Twin Cities region involved homes that were in foreclosure, and another 11% were short sales. By comparison, sales of distressed properties in southeastern Minnesota were roughly one-third of those in the metro.
"In Minnesota, 72% of our residents own their homes, making us #2 in the nation," said Jim Cormier, President of the Minnesota Association of Realtors, in a statement to reporters. "A higher level of home ownership helps strengthen our state economy."
Here's a quick comparison of counties surrounding Rochester:
County 2012 Closed Sales Change
Dodge 503 Up 1.0%
Fillmore 386 Up 3.8%
Freeborn 551 Down 4.5%
Goodhue 709 Down 3.4%
Mower 903 Down 1.5%
Olmsted 4,456 Up 0.9%
Steele 981 Up 5.8%
Wabasha 496 Up 9.7%
