If you're at all a fan of our Annual Residential Real Estate Activity Report (aka "The RREAR") that's released in February of each year, then you're likely a fan of the detailed, micro-level, neighborhood-based data it provides. Square footage, days on market, sales prices, percent new construcion vs. previously-owned...the list goes on and on -- and it's provided for every MLS area we can possibly fit in the damn thing.
All of this is to say that the amount of information contained in the 16 page report each year is both a) highly useful and b) difficult to sift through in its entirety without losing your mind. Constrained by the boundaries of the PDF format we're forced to simply dump all the data out to you in a grid of colums and rows, with no regard given to ordering the data or highlighting some trends to note.
We're gonna try to rectify this problem by harnessing the power and magic of the blog to dig into the numbers a little further. So let this mark the official beginning of the first post in an ongoing series: Lessons from The RREAR.
Today's subject: Price Per Square Foot.
While an imperfect science, Price Per Square Foot (PPSF) is in essence an attempt to control for the sometimes volatile data variable of home size and equate the value of the home to a simple financial question: how much house do I get for my money? PPSF varies significantly from house to house and is affected by a variety of factors—location, the type and age of the home, structural and cosmetic condition and much more.
Statistically, the Average PPSF by community in the Twin Cities varies greatly from place to place and is affected by all the same factors above, just on a broader geographic scale than a single home.
Below are the Top 20 Areas in the Twin Cities for Average Price Per Square Foot in 2007:
| District | Area | PPSF |
| 302 | Mpls – Central | $244 |
| 605 | Sunfish Lake | $237 |
| 300 | Mpls – Calhoun-Isles | $230 |
| 381 | Lake Minnetonka | $217 |
| 310 | Mpls – University | $206 |
| 740 | SP – Crocus Hill | $205 |
| 741 | SP – Downtown/Capital Heights | $202 |
| 309 | Mpls – Southwest | $200 |
| 750 | SP – Mac/Groveland/River Road Area | $192 |
| 385 | Edina | $191 |
| 752 | SP – Highland Area | $182 |
| 748 | SP – Town & Country/Merriam Park | $175 |
| 303 | Mpls – Longfellow | $169 |
| 604 | Mendota/Lilydale/Mendota Heights | $166 |
| 368 | Hennepin-Northwest | $166 |
| 391 | Saint Louis Park | $164 |
| 618 | Eastern Dakota County | $163 |
| 721 | Lakeland/Afton/Denmark | $163 |
| 304 | Mpls – Nokomis | $162 |
And here are the Bottom 20 Areas in Price Per Square Foot in the Twin Cities. These are the spots you could get the most house for your money in 2007:
| District | Area | PPSF |
| 305 | Mpls – North | $71 |
| 370 | Sibley County | $90 |
| 343 | Mcleod County | $92 |
| 342 | Hutchinson | $97 |
| 301 | Mpls – Camden | $99 |
| 742 | SP – Central | $100 |
| 660 | Goodhue County | $103 |
| 714 | SP – Phalen | $106 |
| 658 | Le Sueur County | $107 |
| 363 | Brooklyn Center | $111 |
| 716 | SP – Hillcrest/Hazel Park/Daytons Bluff | $114 |
| 720 | SP – Southeast St. Paul | $116 |
| 783 | Cambridge | $118 |
| 632 | Rice County | $119 |
| 364 | Brooklyn Park | $119 |
| 756 | Elk River | $120 |
| 767 | Coon Rapids | $121 |
| 769 | Anoka | $121 |
| 630 | Northfield | $121 |
| 612 | Burnsville | $121 |
For a look at the geographic boundaries of these MLS areas, visit here. And stay tuned in the weeks ahead for more Lessons from the RREAR.
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