Homes prices drop 13 percent in 2008

Coldwell Banker Burnet is holding a house sale
Coldwell Banker Burnet in Minnesota, is holding a house sale. Housing prices fell 13 percent in 2008 in the Twin Cities.
Tim Boyle/Getty Images

The mortgage crisis helped push the median price of homes sold in the Twin Cities metro down 13 percent last year.

The median price of homes sold by consumers rather than lenders was down only about 4 percent to $223,000. The median price of homes in lender-mediated transactions was much lower, $145,000, down 13 percent.

Steve Havig, President of the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, says foreclosures and short sales are driving down prices, which helped increase the number of homes sold.

"The prices are becoming very, very attractive on the lender-mediated properties, because the lenders themselves do not want that inventory. They are becoming extremely aggressive on pricing. They're lowering their pricing to unprecedented low prices just to get them off the market," said Havig.

In 2008 more than 44,000 homes were sold or were pending sales. That's up 1 point, 2 percent over the previous year.

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