Minnesota home sales increased 11 percent in May, according to the Minnesota Association of Realtors.
Due to stronger sales and a decline in foreclosures and short sales, the median sale price of those deals increased 9.9 percent, the report showed.
Sales were up in most of the 11 regions, including the 7-county metro, but some reported a slight decline. Meanwhile, in the Headwaters Region in the extreme northwest part of the state, sales had almost doubled. This is partly due to an increase in sales of holiday homes.
Overall inventory levels last month were 17 percent lower than last year. It's a challenging situation for buyers who are trying to take advantage of low mortgages, which dipped to another record low this week.
In a separate report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), sales of existing, or previously owned, homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.55 million units in May, the report noted.
NAR said sales of previously owned homes fell by 1.5 percent compared with the prior month. The dip in activity was concentrated in the Northeast and Western regions of the country.
