Think Nobody's Buying Homes Right Now? Think Again.

If you've been thinking about selling, you've probably seen the headlines saying buyers have basically disappeared. I hear it at almost every kitchen table I sit at, and I understand why. Rates are higher than any of us would like. Homes are taking longer to sell than they did a few years ago. And every week brings another story about buyers sitting on the sidelines.

But there's a meaningful difference between a slow market and a stalled one. Right now, we're in the first one. Not the second.

Buyer demand has held up far better than the headlines suggest — and in our market, it's actually accelerating.

Buyers Are More Active Than You Think

One of the cleanest ways to measure real buyer demand is pending home sales — homes that have gone under contract but haven't closed yet. It's a real-time pulse check. Closed sales tell you what buyers did 45 days ago. Pendings tell you what they're doing right now.

Nationally, single-family pending sales have been running ahead of where they were the past two years, and they've done it during a stretch of the calendar when activity usually starts cooling off:

Source: HousingWire Data

This doesn't mean buyers are everywhere. It means they're still out there, still transacting, and still writing offers. If you're thinking about listing, that's the number that matters.

What's Actually Happening Here in the Twin Cities

National data is useful context, but nobody sells a house in "the national market." So let's talk about ours.

According to Minneapolis Area REALTORS®, June brought some of the strongest activity we've seen in years:

●        Pending sales rose 9.7% year over year to 5,171 signed purchase agreements

●        New listings climbed 10.5% to 7,268 — sellers are re-engaging too

●        Inventory hit a seven-year high at 10,897 homes, with a 2.8-month supply

●        The median sales price still rose 2.1% to $410,000

●        Homes are taking longer to sell: 42 days on market, up 7.7%

And that momentum carried into July. For the week ending July 25, Twin Cities pending sales were up 7.2% over the same week last year.

Here's the part I want to be straight with you about: the national picture is genuinely mixed. NAR reported that U.S. pending home sales were down about 0.3% year over year in June, with the biggest declines in the South and West. Our region is outperforming the country, not riding its coattails. That's a real distinction, and I'd rather you hear it from me than find it in a headline next week and wonder what else I glossed over.

Minnesota Realtors® put it well: demand didn't disappear. It was waiting for more supply, slower price growth, and time to adjust to this rate environment. All three of those things are finally showing up at once.

Where the Demand Is Strongest May Surprise You

Statewide, the June numbers broke down by price point in a way that tells you a lot about who's actually buying:

●        Pending sales under $300,000 were up 5.2%

●        Pending sales over $1 million were up 42.2%

That gap isn't an accident. Move-up and luxury buyers tend to have equity, income flexibility, and less sensitivity to a 30-year rate — because many of them aren't planning to keep that rate for 30 years. Waterfront sales rose 30%. New construction was up 17.4%. This is where the market has real energy right now.

It's also where a lot of my work lives. A large share of the buyers moving in that $1M-plus range are self-employed — business owners, physicians in private practice, contractors, consultants, people with K-1s and depreciation and a tax return that makes their income look smaller than it is. When I review an application for a business owner, I'm not just looking at the bottom line of a 1040. I'm looking at what the business actually produces. Bank statement loans, asset depletion, and jumbo non-QM structures exist precisely because conventional underwriting gets these borrowers wrong.

The buyer who "can't qualify" is very often a buyer who was simply run through the wrong program. I've seen it too many times to call it a coincidence.

What This Means for Your Sale

Does every house sell instantly right now? No. And I won't pretend otherwise.

With inventory at a seven-year high and homes averaging 42 days on market, buyers have choices, and they're willing to use them. You can't price aggressively and hope the market catches up. You can't skip prep work. The homes that stall are almost always the ones priced against last year's comps.

But sellers who price and position correctly are still finding motivated buyers — buyers who have spent two years waiting for rates to drop and have decided they're done waiting. They have a reason and a timeline. That's exactly the kind of buyer you want across the table.

The buyers are there. The opportunity is there. The variable is strategy. 

For My Agent Partners

If you're taking a listing above $1M, or you have a buyer whose income doesn't fit neatly into a W-2 box, loop me in before the offer goes out — not after. A pre-approval that's actually been underwritten for a self-employed borrower is the difference between a clean close and a three-week scramble over tax returns. I'll take those calls anytime, including nights and weekends.

Bottom Line

This year's market is moving slower than a lot of us hoped. But buyer demand — especially in the Twin Cities — is far more resilient than the headlines give it credit for.

If you're wondering whether there are enough buyers for your house, let's talk. I'll walk you through what's happening in your specific price band and neighborhood, and help you build a strategy that captures the momentum that's already here.