Every story needs a hero, and housing’s current starlet is (drum roll, please) inventory. More markets continue to see increases in homes for sale, giving buyers more options and keeping prices from trying to overshadow the popularity of inventory with unsustainable stardom. As autumnal extracurriculars pick up and department store decorations trend towards the mustard palate, sales may drop off some, but the subplots of normalization and stabilization should remain popular with year-over-year inventory increases in the leading role.

In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending October 4:

• New Listings decreased 3.8% to 1,477
• Pending Sales increased 1.7% to 1,063
• Inventory increased 10.9% to 18,696

For the month of September:

• Median Sales Price increased 5.1% to $205,000
• Days on Market remained flat at 71
• Percent of Original List Price Received decreased 0.9% to 95.6%
• Months Supply of Inventory increased 15.8% to 4.4

All comparisons are to 2013

Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report. From The Skinny Blog.