2013 Bemidji Real Estate Market Year in Review

Happy 2014 Everyone!  2013 was a great year for the Bemidji real estate market.  Let's start off with the stats:

429 Listings Sold in 2013 (up 9% from 2012)

955 Properties were on the market in 2013

Average Sale Price was $164,447 (Up 1% over 2012)
List to Sales price ratio remained the same at 95%

 Average Days on Market were down 12%
10% of homes sold were bank owned

Statistics in this post were obtained from the Northwest Minnesota MLS.

What does this mean?  More homes were sold and they sold in less time!  For many markets around the country, 2013 brought multiple offers, bidding wars and appreciation.  In Bemidji, we always see a miniature version of what they see in larger metro markets.   For example, during the boom we didn't see sky high prices likes some in metro areas, during the recession we didn't fall as sharply, and now in recovery we don't have that far to go to recover.

The list price to sale price ratio of 95% means that homes in our area were being priced fairly according to what the market could bear and our inventory was sufficient for the number of buyers.  Those factors make for a stable real estate market.

Finally 10% of all homes sold in Bemidji were bank owned?! This may be a surprise to some of you! Here are a few factors that contribute to this seemingly large percentage:

1. If a bank owns a home they have to sell it.  Not all homeowners have to sell.
2. Banks will continue to drop their price until it sells.  Not all homeowners can afford to use this type of strategy.
3. We are seeing homes finally come on the market that went through the foreclosure process over 2 years ago!

While I don't have a crystal ball to tell you with certainty what will happen in 2014, with 11 years of experience in the Bemidji real estate market, I have some pretty good predictions.  I predict we will continue to see foreclosures coming on the market, but fewer than years past.  I predict interest rates will rise but continue to stay affordable.  I predict that home prices will be stable and buyers will continue to buy at the same rate we saw last year. And lastly, I predict we will see more "move up" buyers as the economy continues to recover and consumer confidence returns.

Here's to 2014!  I wish you all peace and prosperity!