St Paul Duplex Sales Lean Toward Buyers

Ever wish you’d paid more attention in class? I do! Especially when trying to find meaning and understanding in statistics.

This is especially true when they seem to contradict one another.

For example, in July the 20 St Paul duplex, triplex and fourplex owners realized average closed prices that were 100.5% of their original list price in July. In other words, they sold for more than the seller was asking for the property.

Yet these properties spend an average of 57 days on the market. When the tally includes any time on the market when it was relisted previously and put back on the market, the cumulative days ballooned to 107. Compared with recent years, that’s a long time. And the fact is, the longer something is for sale, the less it ultimately sells for.

Perhaps that’s why many statisticians prefer median as a measure.  The median amount of time a St Paul small multifamily property spent on the market in July was 30. Median cumulative days was 96.

Even more puzzling is the city had a 6 month supply of inventory; which, while considered balanced, leans strongly in buyers favor.

So what gives?

I suspect that people who priced correctly were by en large, the ones that sold immediately. For example, the month’s top seller, a 6 bedroom, 2 bathroom up down duplex in the Mac Groveland spent 30 days on the market before selling. However, the MLS now has a new metric: PDOM, which means the number of days a property has been at its current list price. In the case of this traditional duplex, it spent 16 days at a reduced price of $584,000 before selling at $580,000.

At the other end of the spectrum, a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house conversion duplex in the North End neighborhood was originally listed for $219,900. It spent 29 days at that price before ultimately selling for $217,600, which included $8866 in seller paid buyer’s closing costs. That’s the equivalent of a net offer to the seller of $208,734. In total the duplex spent 88 days on the market when including the first time it was listed in April  for $234,900. In other words, it sold for 88.9% of its original list price.

In all, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes netted St Paul  sellers an average sales price of $376,889 and a median of $361,000. The Payne Phelan neighborhood lead the way with 4 sales, followed by the Mac Groveland and Hamline Midway neighborhoods with 3 each.

There were more than twice as many new listings on the market than the number that sold, at 47. Six of those listings appeared in the Thomas Dale neighborhood, followed by 5 in the Payne Phalen community.

The value add opportunity was found in the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood, where a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom house conversion listed at $165,000. A turn-key Victorian triplex house conversion in the Summit Hill with 7 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms topped the month at $1,050,000.

In all, there were 115 active small multifamily listings for sale in St Paul in July. While that’s a tie with last month’s number, both months represent the greatest number of choices for buyers since November, 2015.

If you’re thinking of selling your St Paul duplex, triplex or fouprlex, but aren’t sure what your options are, give me a call. I’d be happy to help.