Area housing market has a few bright spots

St. Paul, Minn. — Christopher Galler with the Minnesota Association of Realtors says Rochester, Faribault and Owatonna in southern Minnesota are doing well. He says they're growing and have good sustainable jobs.

Galler says an area running from the Twin Cities to St. Cloud, and around Duluth, are having the toughest time in a struggling real estate market.

Galler says Minnesota's housing market faces several concerns. He says Minnesota is on the backside of a large in-migration in the 1990s that helped spur home sales.

"Those numbers are now drying up. We're not seeing that kind of migration," says Galler. "And the migration we are seeing isn't from people at the same economic level. And housing is an economic issue for a lot of people."

Galler also says there are not a lot of young people in Minnesota creating demand for houses that older people want to sell.