Minneapolis Duplex Market Stabilizes…For Now

For the moment, the Minneapolis duplex market appears to be stable.

Before we all go singing “Ding, dong, the witch is dead”, let’s see what happened the week ending January 7.

There were 17 duplex owners who accepted purchase agreements on their properties. Of these, 41 percent did not need a bank’s permission to sell. Of these, the average price they left the market at was $95,350.

Last year, there were 12 Minneapolis and St Paul duplex owners who came to terms with buyers during the first week of the year. Similarly, 41.7 percent had equity in their properties. On average, these duplexes sold for $94,228.

There were 29 new listings that became available for purchase during the first week of 2012. More than half; 51.7 percent to be exact.

In 2011, there were 26 new listings during the same week. Of these, 53.8 percent were brought to the Minneapolis duplex market by traditional sellers.

And while this seeming “more of the same” could be cause for comfort, it’s important to remember that according to Lender Processing Services, more than 6 million loans nationally are more than 30 days behind in their payments. Nearly 2 million of these property owners are actually more than 90 days behind.

At some point, those properties will have to work their way onto the market.