One in 20 metro-area homes suffer double-digit declines

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A building for sale in southwest Minneapolis.
MPR photo/Tom Weber

A new study finds that only 5 percent of homes in the Twin Cities metro area have suffered double-digit declines in median home prices since the housing market began to decline in 2006.

The study shows that nearly 95 percent of homes in the metro area have shown more modest price declines, averaging just 3.9 percent.

Jim McComb is president of the McComb Group, a Minneapolis-based real estate research firm that conducted the study.

He says the study separates two distinct home markets in the Twin Cities -- traditional homes that are not in foreclosure, and those that are already in foreclosure or are being threatened with foreclosure.

"When you mix the two groups of homes together you get what I call a mathematical result but it's incredibly misleading," McComb said.

McComb says while traditional home values have seen declines, they're not nearly as vast as homes in foreclosure.

He also says the location of homes also has a large effect on prices. The largest concentrations of foreclosed, or lender-mediated homes, are in north and south Minneapolis, with far fewer located in Calhoun-Isles, Southwest and Edina.