Minneapolis Duplex Sales A Real Downer

Remember the Saturday Night Live character Debbie Downer who, no matter what anyone said, parlayed the conversation into bad news or negative information?

Well, the Minneapolis duplex market was a little like that the week ending July 2, 2011.

The number of duplexes that left the market as a result of the owner accepting a purchase agreement was down 28.6 percent from the same week the year before.

Of those pending sales, 19 percent involved sellers with equity. This is down from 33 percent of the sales one year back.

The number of new listings buyers had to choose from was down 34 percent year over year. While 48.3 percent of those new opportunities involved traditional sellers, 83.3 percent of the week’s new inventory last year did not involve a bank in the decision to sell.

While the average off-market price for the week was $128,858; which was higher than last year’s sold price of $122,657, it’s important to remember not every property sells for the amount it was listed at.

We won’t know whether average sales prices have increased until the purchases are actually completed.

The single family home market continued to see year-over-year increases, however; experiencing a 58.2 percent increase compared to last year’s tax-credit-induced hangover.

With the exception of the number of new listings, I suspect this week’s duplex transaction drop is the result of some mild, temporary form of the blues.