Minneapolis Duplex Sales Get Better

The Minneapolis duplex market appears to be healing.

Now I didn’t say “healed”, or “cured”, but things DO seem to be improving.

For example, for the week ending October 13, there was actually one less Minneapolis or St Paul duplex seller who accepted an offer (29) than there was during the same week last year (30).

This year’s duplex sellers were the winners, however, with an average off-market final list price of $197,983. Last year’s sellers realized an average sold price of $107,739.

Of course, as is usually the case, higher prices are often the result of traditional sellers dominating the market, and this week was no exception, with equity sellers contributing 65.5 percent of the transactions. Last year, just 30 percent of the sales were the result of traditional sellers.

Inventory continued to be tight, which, combined with historically low interest rates, may explain the spike in values. There were just 22 new listings in the most recent data, with a whopping 86.4 percent of them brought to the market by sellers who did not need permission from a banker to sell.

Last year at the same time, there were 39 new listings. Traditional sellers were responsible for just 56.4 percent of these, with banks contributing the balance.

Inventory in the single family home market, however, improved slightly, with new listings up 7.3 percent for the week. Of course, these listings dissipated quickly, with pending sales up 26.7 percent over the year before.

In all, there is a 4.1 month supply of inventory on the market. The market is considered balanced when there is a six month supply. Anything over that and it’s a buyer’s market, less than six months supply creates a sellers market.

I am not ready to pronounce the Minneapolis duplex market cured. But it is well on its way to better health.