Hints Of Fall In Minneapolis Duplex Sales
It seems like the Minneapolis and St Paul duplex market is changing. It always seems that way when school starts, the temperature drops and leaves start to fall.
And yet, September’s market data for the seven-county metro area, just like the numbers we saw in August, does not bear that out.
There were 139 new duplex, triplex, and fourplex listings in the seven-country metro area in September. This brought the total number of active listings in the month to 237.
September of 2022 saw 133 new listings and 297 active listings overall in the month. So while last month saw six more properties added to the market for buyers to choose from, overall, they had 60 fewer opportunities.
So are there fewer duplexes actually selling?
Technically, yes. Last month saw 89 small multifamily properties trade hands; down 2 from the 91 that sold one year ago. How about from one month to the next? August of both 2022 and 2023 saw 105 properties sell. Both were down from the 128 that sold in August of 2021.
Duplexes that sold in September were on the market for an average of 33 days. That’s 12 days longer than it took to sell in August of 2022. However, it matches the length of time for sales closed in April of this year (those sales results are from duplexes listed in February and March). Overall, the supply of inventory ticked up to 3 months. In other words, it’s still a seller’s market.
The average sales price for the month was $385,073; down from August’s $412,272 as well as last September’s $391,884. The deal of the month was a 4 bedroom 2 bath
The deal of the month was a Category 3 duplex in East St Paul that traded for $60,500. A pristine Kenwood gem that hadn’t been on the market in nearly 60 years earned a handsome sold price of $1,295,000.
So why does the market feel different when it actually really isn’t?
There were 134 expired listings in September; more than any other month yet this year. My hunch is sellers have not yet fully comprehended the impact interest rates make on a buyer’s monthly payment. Higher monthly payments as the result of interest rates always mean buyers can afford less than they could when rates were lower.
Sooner or later, that results in one of two things: a price reduction or the property not selling.
Always.