Is Now The Time To Buy In St Paul?

With more active listings than any month since November 2015, a 5-month supply of inventory and rents that have gone up more than in Minneapolis, St Paul may well be a duplex buyer’s paradise.

Of course, September also saw a median sales price of $326,500; creating an affordable alternative to Minneapolis and several surrounding suburbs.

The month saw 43 new listings hit the market. That’s a year-over-year increase of 43.3%. However, it still trails the 59 new listings in the same month of 2020, meaning it is not entirely a buyer’s market. In fact, sellers achieved a final closed sales price that was 99.4% of their original asking price. That’s down .6% from August, and .2% since last year.

A 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom side-by-side duple in the Summit-University neighborhood was September’s best opportunity, listing at $185,000. A rare St Anthony Park triplex with 1 bedroom in each unit was the market’s turnkey opportunity, listing at $675,000.

Turning to the month’s 27 sold listings, the high water mark was set by a park side 6 bedroom, 4 bath duplex in the Payne-Phelan neighborhood, which closed at $613,624. Adjacent duplexes in the Como neighborhood, one with 4 bedrooms and  baths, the other with 2 bedrooms and  2 bathrooms gave the buyer both rehab and redevelopment opportunities, closing at $200,000 each.

Sold properties spent an average of 48 days on the market, and a median of 31. This represents a 33.33% month-over-month increase in the average days, and 3.3% uptick in the median.

Including figures for properties that were listed, went off the market without selling, and were relisted, that tally jumped to an average of 65 days before they sold. This may seem ominous. However, in August that number was 79. Of course, both figures suggest a shifting market, as one year ago that figure stood at 38.

But what about rent control? As detailed in HousingLink‘s monthly reports, under rent control average rents in St Paul have consistently gone up as housing providers raise rents every year so as to not miss out on the 3% annual cap.

This underscores the thought St Paul may represent a buying opportunity for frustrated owner occupants and investors.