Duplex Sellers Appear Out Of Nowhere

I did a cartoon double-take this morning when I saw the number of new Minneapolis and St Paul duplex, triplex and fourplex listings for the week ending August 10, 2013.

There were a whopping 63 new listings during the week. And 77.7 percent of those came from sellers with equity in their properties.

Compare that to 24 new listings during the same week one year before; 62.5 percent of which belonged to equity sellers.

There was a similar numbers explosion with the Minneapolis and St Paul duplex owners who accepted offers during the week. Of the thirty-nine who did so, 71.7 percent have equity in their properties. On average, the last price these duplexes were listed at was $190,169.

There were 66 percent fewer sellers during the same week last year. In other words, just 13 owners accepted offers on their properties. The vast majority, at 76.9 percent, were equity sellers, whose average sales price was $204,441.

The single family home market saw a 19.1 percent jump in the number of new listings for the week. Pending sales also continued to be up, rising 10.1 percent over the year before. In all, inventory decreased 11.3 percent for the year.

Rising inventory should help ease the frustration many Minneapolis buyers have been facing in their duplex search.