Where Twin Cities Market residential real estate statistics are concerned, observers should be watching for overarching, macro-level trends rather than any one volatile, outlying week or month’s worth of data. Thinking in a big-picture manner is beneficial in numerous ways. Consider this: Despite media coverage of dreaded shadow foreclosure inventory or a new rush to rent by former owners, our nation’s homeownership rate has fallen no more than 3.0 percent from its peak in 2004. The figure crested around 69.0 percent and now lies just above 66.0 percent.

In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending August 18:

• New Listings decreased 3.5% to 1,286
• Pending Sales increased 25.2% to 1,118
• Inventory decreased 29.8% to 16,878

***Data from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors