Duplex Sales Explode

Wow.

The final average, off-market list price for a Minneapolis or St Paul duplex the week ending September 21, 2013, was $212,871.

Compare this to the average sold price from the same week last year of $128,318.

Granted, listing prices are rarely the same as selling prices. Most of the time, the actual amount a duplex sells for is less than the seller was asking.

Nonetheless, considering sellers in the Twin Cities real estate market are currently averaging sold prices of 97 percent of what they were asking, so it’s unlikely the sold prices will change much.

Of the duplex sellers who accepted offers during the week, 73.7 percent have equity in their properties. Four of these properties had list prices above $300,000, which is something we haven’t seen too much of the past few years. For the week last year, there were no listings above $300,000, and just 41.2 percent of those who sold were traditional sellers.

Duplex owners who’ve been considering selling have clearly begun to test the waters, as there were 27 new listings for the week. A whopping 81.5 percent of these new listings belonged to traditional sellers. Last year, the week saw just 16 new duplex investment opportunities come on the market; 62.5 percent of which belonged to owners with equity.

Numbers from the single family home market for the week suggest there are changes in the wind. While new listings were up 13.3 percent over last year, pending sales were actually down 5.5 percent. Whether this is an isolated incident or a trend is yet to be seen.

In all, it’s good news for duplex sellers; who’ve been waiting  a long time to hear it.