Minneapolis Duplex Market No Longer In Park

There seem to be a lot more cars in the parking lot of my office late at night these days.

And the Weekly Market Activity Report from MAAR explains why.

Sales of single family homes for the week ending May 2 were up 26.3 percent over last year at this time. Active listings are down 19.5 percent from last year, which is contributing to the 24.5 percent drop in Months Supply of Inventory over the past year.

In the duplex market, there continues to be increased activity.  The number of properties that received purchase agreements for the week was up 43.75 percent over the same stretch in 2008.  Bank owned properties comprised 93.4 percent of the week’s pended properties, up just 2.78 percent over last year.

What may well be the most encouraging sign of all, however, is this year’s average off-market price was$102,556; just slightly below the average sales price for the period in 2008 of $105,050.

The amount of new inventory continued to shrink as well, with 62 new listings entering the market. This is down 23.5 percent from last year’s mark.  Perhaps best of all, the week’s new inventory consisted of  just 62.9 percent lender owned or mediated duplexes.

If the trends continue, I may find myself fighting for a parking space.