Data through March 2011, released today by Standard & Poor's for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, show that the U.S. National Home Price Index declined by 4.2% in the first quarter of 2011, after having fallen 3.6% in the fourth quarter of 2010. The National Index hit a new recession low with the first quarter's data and posted an annual decline of 5.1% versus the first quarter of 2010. Nationally, home prices are back to their mid-2002 levels.
Key findings:
* Education in Minnesota appears to be more "civic."
* Twin Cities residents appear to have stronger social networks than do residents of Miami.
* Levels of trust and satisfaction are much higher in the St. Paul area than in the Miami area
* Twin Cities residents were more than twice as likely to volunteer than Miami residents