Minneapolis Duplex Sales Dip While Prices Rise

What a difference a year makes.

For the week ending June 9, 2012, Minneapolis and St Paul duplex sales were actually lower than they were for the same week one year ago.

There were 17 duplex, triplex and four unit sellers who received and accepted offers during the week. Just more than half of these folks (52.9 percent) have equity in their investment properties and will walk away from closing with a check.

Last year, there were 21 sellers who accepted offers during the week. Just 23.8 percent of them left the closing table with money in their pockets.

Of course, Minneapolis duplexes owned by traditional sellers typically sell for more than their distressed, bank-negotiated counterparts. As a result, the average duplex left the market at a list price of $142,500 the first week of June in 2012, compared with an average sold price of $99,921 for the same week in 2011.

There continued to be a lack of new inventory, with 37 new listings hitting the market compared  with last year’s 46. Of those new listings, 67.6 percent belonged to traditional sellers with equity, while just 34.8 percent of last year’s sellers left the closing with money.

Single family homes began to see a small shift toward more inventory, with the number of new listings hitting the market up .4 percent. This was not enough to make up for the overall inventory decrease for the year of 31 percent.  Pending sales, of course, continued their rise, up 29.4 percent over last year.

One year from now, it will be interesting to see if these trends continue.