Duplex Market Has Something Up Its Sleeve

Was it a rite of spring?

Or a magic act?

Either way, the Minneapolis duplex market managed to pull a rabbit out of its hat the week ending March 27, with pended sales up 62.5 percent from the same week one year ago.

Of those proeprties that received purchase agreements, 28.21 percent were signed by traditional sellers. While this seems like a disappearing act compared to previous weeks, it’s important to note that ALL of the pended sales for the week in 2009 were offered or mediated by financial institutions.

A still more stupendous feat may well be the fact that the average off market price for the week was $110,077. This made last year’s average sale price of $64,605.

For the week, new inventory performed something of a disappearing act; dropping 26.15 percent from last year. Again, this should help put upward pressure on prices.

The opposite was true in the single family home market. New listings for the week were up 29.4 percent over one year ago.

The good news is pending sales were up 13.8 percent, with the total number of signed purchase agreements topping 1000.

While not as impressive of a trick as making an airplane disappear, has managed to reduce the Supply-Demand Ratio to just 4.39 homes per buyer; the lowest it’s been in years.

Let’s hope there’s more magic yet to come.