Where Have All The Minneapolis Duplexes Gone?

I have to confess, I love it when I’m right about Minneapolis duplex sales.

Especially when they’ve gone missing.

You see, all year, I’ve been complaining– well, you might actually call it whining– about the lack of duplexes for sale here in the Twin Cities.

Every week it seems there are fewer new listings than there were during the same week the year before.

For the week ending December 3, 2011, for example, there were just 23 duplexes, triplexes and four unit apartment buildings that came on the Minneapolis and St Paul market.

Compare that with 36 during the same week in 2010.

Of the week’s new listings, 52.2 percent were offered for sale by traditional sellers. Last year, just 27.7 percent of the new listings were.

If you think these weekly drops of 10 – 15 new listings don’t add up, consider this: in 2010, there were 2,320 duplexes made available for sale in the seven county metro area.

To  date in 2011, there have been 1572. That’s a decline in inventory of 32.2 percent.

And I don’t know about you, but I personally don’t think there are going to be 800 new listings between now and year’s end.

The week after Thanksgiving saw 20 duplex sellers receive and accept purchase agreements. Of these, just 15 percent were traditional sellers with equity in their investment property.

Last year, that weekly figure stood at 22 purchase agreements, with 36.5 percent of them signed by duplex owners with equity.

The average price the week’s duplexes left the market at was $144,180. While this is sure to drop when sold prices are reported, it is, nonetheless, significantly higher than the $110,200 sold price of last year’s group.

Of course, it isn’t just duplex inventory that’s down. The single family home sector also saw a 9.3 percent decline in new listings. Meanwhile, pending sales were up 36.4 percent over the year before.

If you’re thinking of selling in the spring, don’t wait. Right now, there’s clearly little to no competition for your Minneapolis duplex!