Minneapolis Duplex Market Warm Spot In Winter Chill

It’s been difficult to tell how the Twin Cities duplex and single family home markets have been performing the last couple of weeks due to the Thanksgiving holidays in 2007 and 2008 falling during different weeks. That changes with this week’s MAR activity report.

Of course, we Minnesotans like hunker down inside during the cold, dark winter months and we are distracted in the weeks ramping up to the holidays. Historically, housing activity reflects that. Overall in the single family home market, all the numbers were down in new listings, sales and total inventory.

The good news is pending sales for the week ending December 6 were up 27.6 percent, with 54.7 percent of these transactions involving lender-mediated short sales or foreclosures. There was little change in the amount of new inventory on the market as well, with new listings up just 0.7 percent over their mark for the comparable week in 2007.

Meanwhile, in the multi-family market new listings were down 10.8 percent from the same time last year. Of these properties new to the market, 86 percent are either lender-owned or mediated. This is an increase of 12 percent of lender-involved properties over the same stretch in 2007.

Pending small multi-family purchase agreements, on the other hand, continued their mind-numbing pace; up a full 300 percent over last year. Of the properties receiving offers, 93 percent were lender owned. Last year’s total represented 74 percent lender-mediated properties.

One non data-driven observation: several of  the desirably located, more expensive bank involved properties received offers the first week of December. Several had lingered on the market over the summer. A number of comparable short sales which were newer to the market suddenly listed as pending as well; far more quickly than it has taken most short sales to be negotiated in the past.