Twin Cities Duplex Market Once Again Favors Sellers

As we head toward the holidays, many would-be Minneapolis and St Paul duplex buyers and sellers decide to put off making a move until spring. As November’s sales numbers for the Twin Cities show, however, the duplex market doesn’t believe in seasons.

Last month, 92 duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes were sold at an average price of $396,635. This was the most sold properties in any month since April.

As always, most of these sales were in Minneapolis (41) and St Paul (26). The value-add opportunity came in a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom uncompleted rehab project duplex in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood, which sold for $133,000. Minneapolis’ Kenwood neighborhood generated the month’s market topper, where a 9 bedroom, 5 bathroom duplex closed for $1,050,000.

These listings spent an average of 34 days on the market, unchanged from last month. When adding the days a property had previously been listed, cancelled, and relisted, the cumulative day average before selling rose to 43. These sellers averaged a final sales price that was 98% of their original list price.

November saw just 78 new duplex, triplex and fourplex listings come on the market in the 7-county metro area. This was the least since January. In all, buyers had just 248 active listings to choose from; down 14.5% from October.

Of these new listings, 39 were in Minneapolis, while St Paul contributed 17.  Another partially completed 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom rehab in the Payne-Phelan neighborhood of St Paul represents a good winter project for someone at $140,000. An exceptionally rare duplex in Victoria with 8 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms on 2.7 acres and across the road from a lake understandably tops the new opportunities pricelist at $1.5 million.

With so few new listings, the market once again became a seller’s market, with just a 3-month supply of inventory. Historically, December is the month with the least amount of inventory for buyers to choose from.

If you’re giving thought to selling next year, remember; the spring real estate market in the Twin Cities starts in February, not May. Those first to the market always fare better than those who wait until late spring; simply because there’s more competition, while demand remains constant.