Duplex Sellers Love Spring

Equity Minneapolis and St Paul duplex owners are coming out of hibernation as the spring housing market brings warm rays of rising prices.

During the week ending April 26, 35 new listings came on the market. This is a 25.7 percent increase in new inventory from last year. The vast majority of these, at 80 percent, is being offered for sale by traditional sellers.

One year ago during the same week, traditional sellers were still hibernating. Just 52.2 percent of the 23 new listings at that time came from sellers who had equity in their properties.

There were 26 duplex, triplex, and fourplex sellers whose properties were already on the market during the same week.  While 80.8 percent of these folks had equity in their property, the average final list price these duplexes left the market at was $194,381.

Last year, 28 happy duplex owners accepted offers. And while just 60.7 percent of these sellers had equity, on average, they sold their properties for $236,535.

The single-family market also saw a rise in New Listings, up 25.6 percent over last year. Meanwhile, the number or property owners who accepted offers on their homes decreased by 2.4 percent from the total during the last week of April 2013.

In all, there was a .5 percent increase in housing inventory. While microscopic increases in inventory are a good sign, they are not enough to relieve buyer frustration over a lack of available properties to choose from.

This will continue to put upward pressure on prices.

Which should make this spring the best part of every seller’s year.