Owatonna, Minnesota is Among the US Cities Where Home Values are Falling Fastest

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. home sales slumped. Since then, however, the market has come roaring back — and rising demand, in conjunction with a relatively low supply of housing, has caused home values to surge.

Between January 2020 and January 2021, the typical single-family American home appreciated in value from $246,563 to $269,039, a 9.1% increase. Of course, housing markets also respond more to local forces, and not all parts of the country followed the national pattern.

In Owatonna, a city of about 25,700 residents in Minnesota’s Steele County, home values have actually declined in recent months. The typical single family home in Owatonna was worth $201,714 as of January 2021, 0.3% less than what it was worth one year ago.

One factor that can contribute to falling home prices at a local level is reduced demand. And lower demand for housing is often precipitated by population decline. However, according to the most recent available Census data, over the last one-year period, Owatonna’s population remained effectively unchanged .

Nationwide, the typical home value is about 4.3 times higher than the median household income of $62,843. In Owatonna, housing is generally more affordable. The typical single-family home value is about 3.2 times higher than the local median household income of $62,642.

Here are the five communities with populations of at least 2,000 in Minnesota where home values fell the most in the last year.

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