Report: Twin Cities rental market tightest in a decade

New housing data shows shows the Twin Cities rental market is the tightest it's been in a decade, with rents on the rise.

The Minnesota Housing Partnership also found almost 20 percent of the state's homeowners were underwater in the last three months of last year, meaning they owed more on their homes than they were worth.

Researcher Leigh Rosenberg says the report reflects the growing gap between Minnesota's middle class and low income residents. Low wage earners "are extremely extremely strapped," Rosenberg said. It's hard for them to find rental housing that they can afford, "and in the worst case scenario people cannot find any housing at all and they are homeless."

But the study also shows a positive trend in other areas of the housing market. Residential construction grew by 8 percent over the previous year, adding construction jobs, as the supply of homes fell to its lowest level in six years.

The average rent on a Twin Cities apartment was $927.