Glass Half Full In Minneapolis Duplex Market

Glass Half FullI try to be an optimist; to see the bright side of a slower duplex market.

To that end, let’s call the sixteen duplexes that had purchase agreements signed in the week ending September 25, 2010, the glass half full.

Trouble is, nearly twice that many (31) pended the same week one year ago.

Traditional sellers contributed 31.25 percent of those transactions, compared with 2009 when they offered 22.5 percent of the pended sales.

The average off market price for the week was $86,412.50. This represents a 15.5 percent drop from last year’s average sold price of $102,232.

The good news is the number of new listings also dropped by nearly half, 34.4 percent coming to the market with traditional sellers. This just edges the 32.8 percent contributed by them one year ago.

In the single family sector, listing activity dropped 19.9 percent from the same week last year. This wood be good news had there not been 41.7 percent fewer purchase agreements signed than last year.

The sharp decline in buyer activity means housing inventory is swelling, with the current 26,915 active single family home listings on the MLS being 9.8 percent higher than last year’s offerings.

Of course, whenever supply exceeds demand, prices fall. This represents a golden opportunity for buyers; especially multi-family property investors who are seeing double digit returns on rental property.

There has never been a better time to buy.