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The Goldilocks Market

“Twin Cities Home Prices Best Predictor of U.S. Trends”

headline; U.S. News & World Report (7/30/2014)

Call it the “Ohio” of the U.S. housing market.

Just as Ohio voters seemingly choose the President every four years (or have, at least every election since 1964), according to Trulia, the Twin Cities housing market is the best proxy for the overall U.S. housing market.

If you prefer, call it “the Goldilocks” of the national housing market (not too hot, not too cold — at least ignoring the weather).

Diverse Economy

Which kind of makes sense, given the diverse Twin Cities economy featuring a mix of business (3M, Cargill, Target, Medtronic), government (St. Paul is the state capitol), academe (the University of Minnesota), and agriculture.

The only caveat:  the data comes from Trulia — now Zillow-Trulia — whose numbers in my experience have been anything but accurate.

See, “Why Realtors Hate Zillow”; “Taking Trulia For a Spin”; and “Why Trulia and Zillow Are Off (Another) 3%.”

[July 31 update:  CBS Local just picked up the story this a.m.]

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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