Good News!

In the middle of the current financial turmoil,
Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Report has some
good news regarding home prices in the Twin
Cities.

The Case-Shiller report, which was released
Sept. 30, notes that home prices in the Twin Cities
rose for two consecutive months this summer.
From May to June, prices rose 0.9 percent,
and from June to July, prices rose 1.3 percent—
the largest increase of all 20 metropolitan areas
surveyed in the report.

In other good news, the Minneapolis Area Association
of REALTORS® (MAAR) has been reporting
an increase in home sales in the metro area over
the summer and early fall, and in some cases
dramatic increases. For the week ended Sept.
20, MAAR reported that the number of pending
sales rose 42.8 percent compared with the
same week last year. MAAR noted that during
the last seven weeks, there were 5,866 signed
purchase agreements, an increase of more than
1,500 units compared to the same time period
last year.

The Case-Shiller Report reviews home prices in
the 20 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. The report
is based on thousands of repeat sales of
the same single-family houses. The MAAR report
studies the median sale prices of all singlefamily
homes, condominiums, and townhomes
on the Regional Multiple Listing Service that sold
during a specific period.