Towards the end of November I started to write a blog post about the List to Sale Ratio in Alexandria, Minnesota but decided to wait until we moved into December. Partially because of sales activity at my office, Counselor Realty, and partially because I was catching up with other work after seven days in Rome. What I was going to write was that the trend is usually for the ratio (the sale price of real estate as a percentage of the list price) to trend down moving into the end of a year. In the fourth quarter of Alexandria’s real estate market the ratio usually trends down for residential real estate because of winter. It isn’t great time to move so there usually is less competition (fewer buyers) for buyers, and if it is a lake home that isn’t going to be used over the winter months, you can imagine that a seller might be more flexible in an acceptable price for their property.
It’s good that I waited as our REALTOR® association, Greater Alexandria Area Association of REALTORS®, has released November’s numbers and as you will see, the trend moved north. Our association doesn’t break down the residential numbers by lakefront or non-lakefront but what I’ve learned over the years is this average is pretty consistent whether it is a home on the shores of Lake Carlos or a home on Douglas Street. After a great year for home sales in Alexandria, this bodes very well for 2014 sales even if the trend moves a little south after sales in December.
