MINNEAPOLIS -- Fifty percent of homes in the Twin Cities in April were foreclosed properties, that number typically averages closer to 5%, still there are signs of housing stability in some areas hit by foreclosures.
"North Minneapolis is one of the neighborhood's that's been hardest hit by foreclosures in the city," said Cherie Shoquist, Minneapolis' Foreclosure Project Coordinator.
For the past few years thousands of foreclosed homes have hit the books in North Minneapolis and the city has worked, with help from the federal government, to sell them.
"We have strategically targeted over $30 million in federal resources to acquire properties, reinvest in our neighborhoods, rehabilitate them and bring families and homeowners back into our homes," said Shoquist.
Rather than let foreclosed homes sit vacant and boarded, the city uses federal and state dollars to buy the foreclosed properties and turn them around. It's part of a Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
The non-profit program adds new siding, a new roof and updates to the interior. Once the foreclosed home is rehabbed, it goes back on the market and so far the homes have been selling with success. So much so, there's been a steady rise in the price of regular home sales.
"We are seeing estimated market values increasing and time on the market decrease, while our foreclosures continue to decrease as well," Shoquist explained.
Housing experts are quick to say the only way for home prices to rebound is to limit the amount of foreclosures, but they add it's too early to say if the program in North Minneapolis is the sole cause for an all around housing price increase.
"A lot of the programs, when they're big investment programs, we won't know until three or five years down the road whether they really worked," said Minnesota Association of Realtors' Chris Galler. "But getting the stock off inventory is a good thing to do."
In the case of areas hardest hit, taking a foreclosed property off the list is the only thing to do.
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