Another series of real estate reports show that there is both good news and bad news for Twin Cities home buyers and sellers.

Good news! According to the monthly Case-Shiller survey, home prices in the metro area during April were 9.5% higher than April 2009. That’s much better than the 3.8% increase recorded for the national average. For the 20 metro areas Case-Shiller tracked, the Minneapolis market’s year-over-year gain in home prices was topped only by San Francisco, whose price index rose 18%, and San Diego, where home prices rose 11.7%.

The increases in sale prices are likely the result of a spike in home sales triggered by the federal housing tax credit, which ended in April. April results from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors showed the median home sale was $169,800. MAAR has since reported the Twin Cities median home sales price rose 6.1% from May 2009 to $175,000 in May 2010, with some of those sales having trickled over from when the tax credit was still available.

More good news? RealtyTrac reports that sales of foreclosure homes in the Twin Cities have gone down. Foreclosures represented about one in five home sales in the Twin Cities that month. Those homes sold for an average of about 23% less than those not in the foreclosure process. Foreclosure sales in Minnesota have actually declined 17% for the first quarter of 2010 compared with the same period a year ago. Across the U.S., foreclosure homes accounted for 31% of all residential sales in the first quarter of 2010.

Now for some bad news. A Commerce Department report shows that Americans were far less likely to buy new homes in May after the government stopped offering the homebuyer tax credit. Sales of new homes fell 33% to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 300,000. That was the lowest in the 47 years records have been kept. Sales of new homes have now sunk 78% from their peak five years ago.

Possibly more bad news. Sales of existing homes dipped nationally, too. Sales of pre-existing homes fell 2.2% in May from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.66 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. Specific statistics for the Twin Cities have not yet been released.

Because all of these reports are for May and April, it could be deceiving for June statistics. The Twin Cities real estate market has been doing better than average when compared to national figures. Additionally, interest rates that were already low have dropped further – to the lowest rates in more than 50 years! As a result of the low rates, mortgage applications increased nearly 9% this week compared to last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

With the low interest rates and the abundance of affordable real estate available, now may be a great time to buy a first home! Though sales made now no longer qualify for the federal first time home buyer credit, there are still many buyer incentives available to people seeking a home in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the surrounding Twin Cities!

Do you have your first home and seek the next step up? Great Twin Cities Home Builders are ready to build a home in great developments like Legacy Creek and Blaine Haven.

Are you a dog lover considering building or buying a new home in Blaine MN?

Dog owners in Blaine can bring their dogs to Happy Acres Park for fun and exercise. A dog park and off-leash area opened there earlier this month with signs, bag dispensers, waste containers, and all.

Both the Blaine Park Board and Blaine City Council agreed to allow dogs within the three hockey rinks at Happy Acres Park. The first hockey rink to the east will be for small dogs, and the second and third hockey rinks will be for medium and large dogs.

New Hope, Crystal and Eden Prairie are successfully using hockey rinks as dog parks at a very minimal cost. The dog park and off-leash area at Happy Acres Park, located at 11900 7th Street in Blaine MN, will stay open through mid-November.

The dog park is available on a 1-year trial basis. It will be monitored, and a follow-up study will be presented to the Park Board and City Council.

Check it out! The new homes being constructed at the Legacy Creek housing development in Blaine, MN, are going up rather quickly now.

3525 126th Ave NE, Blaine MN

The exterior of the home at 3525 126th Ave NE in Blaine is almost done. You can see the siding is up, but plastic over the windows, doors, and garage indicate that part of the building process isn’t done yet.

3524 127th Ave NE, Blaine MN

The homes at 3524 and 3521 127th Ave NE in Blaine MN walls are about neck-and-neck in terms of construction stages.

3521 127th Ave NE, Blaine MN

The walls are complete, or nearly complete, the shingles are on, and siding should be going up on them pretty soon.

3512 127th Ave NE, Blaine MN

Construction on the new home located at 3512 127th Ave NE in Blaine is trucking right along, too. As you can see, a lot of the siding is up and plastic on the walls indicates that windows, doors, and the garage door will be coming shortly, too.

All in all, Legacy Creek is really beginning to look like a the neighborhood it intends to be!

Hope you had happy holidays and a Happy New Year! It has been a few weeks since we posted an update about what is building up at Legacy Creek in Blaine, MN. Most of us may have taken a long holiday, but our home builders didn’t. Check out what they’ve been up to!

Two of the homes we first visited during construction have come a long way. The framing is done, walls are up, time to start putting in exteriors and interiors!

Two of the homes that we visited at Legacy Creek were just pits in the ground last time we wrote a post. Well, as you can see, framing on both of them has started.

Building these 4 homes seems to be moving right along. The 2 homes already completed in the background are already purchased and inhabited. The construction of a brand new community is happening right now in Blaine MN!

Earlier this week we shared pictures of the 4 new houses Norton Homes is in the process of building in Blaine’s Legacy Creek development. Construction on these homes is happening very quickly and we are very happy to be able to show you just how fast the process is going.

This future home located at 3512 127th Ave NE in Blaine was just a hole in the ground in the last set of pictures. Heck. there were still construction workers on site helping to dig it out. Now you can see the foundation is poured.

Pictures of 3521 127th Ave show that almost all of the framing has already been put up! Soon enough, some of these pictures will show the insides of the homes as they begin to take shape.

Here you can see the foundation poured at 3524 127th Ave NE in Blaine MN. Interest in these Legacy Creek homes is hopping, that’s why Norton Homes is in such a rush to get them done. What better way to begin the New Year than to plan to live in a new neighborhood?

With all the snow and slush out there, construction will likely slow for the holiday, but it will be cranking right back up next week. Have a happy holiday! Stay safe and warm!