Suburban standout

Jeff and Julie Greely recently sold their Chanhassen starter home and traded up for a larger, newer three-level house in Trotter's Ridge for about $200,000 more.

The Greelys had house-hunted in other western suburbs, but decided not to leave Chanhassen because they enjoy swimming at Lake Ann, hanging out at the new downtown library and touring the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum gardens.

"We stayed for our kids and for Chanhassen's small community feel in a large metro area," Jeff said.

Devoted move-up buyers like the Greelys helped make Chanhassen a winner in last year's sluggish housing market.

In 2007, the median sale price of houses sold through the Regional Multiple Listing Service in Chanhassen was $322,500, up 10 percent from 2006, while most communities saw median sale prices decline, according to the year-end report by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors.

Chanhassen was one of only a couple of dozen communities that showed an increase in the median sale price last year. Sunfish Lake was at the top of the list, but didn't have enough transactions to be statistically significant. Next was the combined MLS district that includes Mendota, Lilydale and Mendota Heights, which had 129 sales, down 8.5 percent from the previous year.

Chanhassen had 336 sales in 2007, down 21 percent. Next was Eden Prairie, which posted a 9 percent increase in the median sale price, but a 28 percent decline in the number of transactions.

"Buyers appreciate the proximity to downtown Minneapolis, the beautiful lakes in your back yard and all the city has to offer," she said.

Another big draw, city officials say, is a walkable downtown that was established in the 19th century but has been redeveloped and expanded in recent years. At one end of the downtown area are the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, a new library and Axel's restaurant; at the other end there's Target, Byerly's and an Ace Hardware store.

More changes are in store, including a new high school opening in 2009 and perhaps a regional mall.

Some speculate that the recent opening of new Hwy. 312 is also driving demand for housing because it offers a faster, stoplight-free 25-minute drive from Chanhassen subdivisions to downtown Minneapolis.

That improvement is expected to draw not only time-conscious commuters but more businesses, said city manager Todd Gerhardt.

"The median price is up because a higher percentage of units sold were above $500,000 than last year," said Brooks, citing data supplied by the Regional Multiple Listing Service.

Chanhassen issued 140 building permits in 2007, an increase from 98 in 2006, while many other communities saw a decline, according to the Builders Association of the Twin Cities. Still, new construction accounted for only 11.6 percent of all sales through the RMLS. Most sales were existing houses, which offer a full array of housing choices that enable families to stay in the community even as their circumstances change.

"In a buyer's market, it's a great time to move up," said Brooks, citing the increased affordability of a soft market.

Although Chanhassen's home values have remained stable, sellers still have to price their properties competitively, real estate agents say.

Sharla Stafford, a Coldwell Banker Burnet agent who sells and lives in Chanhassen, said the number of days a house is on the market also might be a reason Chanhassen had positive growth in the median sale price.

The average days on the market in Chanhassen during December was 114, compared with Eden Prairie, where the average was 175.

The Greelys sold their Chanhassen starter home in just one day. During the six years they lived there, the couple put in a patio, updated almost every room and remodeled a bathroom.

"We thought it would sell fast," said Jeff. "We fixed it up like we were staying for a long time. Then we outgrew it."