St Paul Duplex Market Fails To Differentiate Itself

As much as St Paul likes to differentiate itself from Minneapolis, in 2025, its duplex, triplex and fourplex market looked like family.

The city saw more active multifamily listings for buyers to choose from than at any time since 2016.  Of those 1185 opportunities, 466 were new to the market. While this was also the most new inventory since 2021, it still trailed that year by 11.2%.

The Payne-Phalen neighborhood saw the most listing activity with 84. Thomas-Dale finished in a solid second place with 55. The year’s market-topping offering was an 8-bedroom, 6-bathroom magazine-quality Victorian in the Summit-University neighborhood hit the MLS at $1,350,000. A 4 bedroom,  2 bathroom

The increase in active listings may have been due, in part, to slowing sales. A total of 251 properties sold in the city represented a year-over-year decline of 4.2%, and were the fewest number of sales in more than a decade.

Somehow, this slowing didn’t impact price. St Paul finished the year with an average sales price of $357,327. While this is less than the decades high water mark of $358,382 in 2022, it was nonetheless up $1055 from 2024.

A Summit-University triplex featuring 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms complete with period charm and woodwork fetched the year’s top sales price at $889,000.  A 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom Category 2 house conversion in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood offered a rehab opportunity at $90,000.  Payne-Phalen saw more transactions than any other St Paul neighborhood with 43 sales. The West Side finished a distant second with 23.

Sold properties spent an average of 51 days on the market before selling. This was the longest amount of time since 2016, when that number stood at 66. Sometimes the mean is more positive in the average. Last year this checked in at 33 days. This was also the longest amount of time since 2016. It also represented a 57.1% year-over-year increase.

Longer market time and fewer overall sales also resulted in a 4.8 month supply of inventory. That means, at the year’s rate of sales, if no new properties came on the market it would take nearly 5 months to be sold out of inventory. It is also a number that moved far closer to representing a buyer’s market than the 3.5 month supply tallied at the end of 2024. Still more staggering was the fact it was double the 2.33 month supply of 2023.

Of course, a slowing market also means there’s little room for forgiveness for a property not in the condition to sell at its current price. Sure enough, expired listings rose slightly for the year to 414. This was up by just 5 properties from 2024. However, it also represented an increase o 53 expired listings over 2023.

Remember, a slowing market may provide a buying opportunity in the near future. If you’ve been thinking of house hacking a duplex and haven’t made the move, or you’re looking for a steady alternative investment to the stock market, give me a call. I’d be happy to help you craft a plan to achieve your goals.