Why Spring Makes Selling A Minneapolis Duplex Harder

Many would-be Minneapolis and St Paul duplex sellers believe spring is the optimum time to put their property on the market. And every year, Realtors encourage those would-be sellers to get their properties on the market sooner, rather than later.

The chart to the right shows why.

The blue line represents the number of active duplex, triplex and fourplex listings on the market at that time. The gold peaks and valleys are the number of properties sold in that same period of time.

As you can see, over the last five years in the seven-county metro area the number of new-to-the-market listings starts to climb in March, peaks in July, then declines rapidly as the calendar turns toward the holiday season.

Sales, meanwhile, lag this trend line by about 30 days. While they too peak, often in almost lockstep to the new listings, the gap between active listings and sales actually widens.

That means there’s more competition for duplex sellers the better the weather gets. As a result, buyers have more properties to choose from, and properties for sale need to either be in better shape or a better value to sell, as buyers don’t have the same sense of urgency they do when there are fewer choices.

If you’re thinking of selling your Minneapolis duplex and now think you’ve missed your opportunity for the year, don’t. The silver lining of our late spring is we haven’t yet experienced a wave of new inventory.

Call me today if you’d like to find out how you can take advantage of our continued seller’s market.