Minneapolis Duplexes Worth A Little Bit More

With the release yesterday of the first quarter 2012 Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Minneapolis and St Paul duplex sellers got a bit of good news.

The index showed that Minneapolis was one of only seven cities that showed year-over-year price gains for the quarter, up 3.3 percent from the first quarter of 2011.

This jump was second only to Phoenix, which lead the nation with a 6.1 percent increase in value.

It is important to note that nationwide, the average for the nation’s largest 20 cities actually showed a 2.7 percent decline.

While the quarterly data for the Twin Cities looked good, the numbers between February and March told a different story. At that time, Minneapolis reported a .9 percent decline in value.

And it’s important to remember that nationwide, values are down as much as 30 to 50 percent from their peak in 2007.

Earlier in the month, the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors reported a rise in the median home sales price in April of 12.4 percent. This leap was attributed largely to the decline of low priced bank-owned inventory on the duplex and housing market.

This decline in bank-owned inventory, coupled with a shortage of traditional sellers has lead to the tightest duplex market in years.