Minneapolis Duplex Sales Trend Changes Again

Just when I think I’m on to the latest trend, things change. Just like the Minneapolis and St Paul duplex market just did.

For the previous four weeks, we saw a steady year-over-year decline in duplex prices. I was convinced this was a result of increased inventory and higher interest rates. And just as I was about to declare the market was changing, it did just that in a way that was completely unexpected.

In fact, for the week ending July 27, the average final list price for the 29 Twin Cities duplexes, triplexes and fourplex sellers who accepted offers on their properties was $213,489.

This certainly is better news since the average sold price for the 24 sellers during the same week in 2012 was $155,397.

This might be explained with the fact that 45.8 percent of the 2012 sellers had equity in their properties, compared with the 72.4 percent of this year’s sellers who do.

During the same week, traditional sellers also came out in force, contributing 87.1 percent of the 31 new listings. Last year, equity sellers brought just 60 percent of the 20 new listings to the market.

The single family home market also saw new listings increase by 19.7 percent, pending sales rise by 18.4 percent and overall inventory drop by 12 percent.