Home prices UP? Or down?

Home prices in Minneapolis rose faster in June than in almost any other city in the nation.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index released Tuesday showed that prices in Minneapolis, Detroit and Chicago rose by 2.5 percent, well ahead the one percent average increase between May and June.

The average increase was up 4.2 percent from a year ago, according to the index.

BUT .......

But prices are expected to fall through the rest of the year now that demand has faded.

Home prices nationally were up 4.8 percent in the second quarter compared with the first quarter. That was largely because buyers could take advantage of government tax credits of up to $8,000.

Home sales have dropped sharply since those incentives expired.

Read the rest of the story By BOB VON STERNBERG, Star Tribune