What do Chanhassen, Apple Valley, and Savage have in common?  These three Twin Cities towns made CNN Money’s best small towns in America list. Out of the top fifty small towns, Chanhassen placed fourth, Apple Valley seventeenth, and Savage twenty first. These top fifty towns have lots of parks, good schools, and great sense of community.  Click here to see the entire list.

Construction in the Twin Cities is continuing its upward trend with a 110% increase in new construction in April 2013!  Inventory of existing homes for sale continued to fall another 4.5% putting inventory levels at a low not seen in over a decade! Building permits for single family homes in the Twin Cities were up 27%.  With the low rental vacancy rates, less than 3%, permits for building apartments in Minneapolis were way up once again. Because of permits for apartment buildings, Minneapolis led the new construction permits in April with 408 units, Lakeville was second with 32 units, Chanhassen had 29 and Woodbury 24. Blaine had the most single family construction permits with 20. This information comes from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors and the Builders Association of the Twin Cities.