Twin Cities Duplex Buyers See Signs of Spring

If you ask any Realtor in Minnesota when the spring housing or multifamily market starts, there’s a high likelihood the answer will be the week after the Super Bowl.

This year, that’s especially good news for buyers looking to owner-occupy or acquire an investment property.  That’s because inventory tends to rise between now and late summer. And it is already higher than it’s been in quite some time.

For example, in the 7-county metro area, January saw more new duplex, triplex and fourplex listings than in any other January in over a decade. The 101 new opportunities contributed to the 257 active listings or the month, which were also the highest January total in a decade.

As usual, Minneapolis contributed the most new listings, with 50. St Paul finished in a familiar second, with 26. A St Paul Mac-Groveland neighborhood fourplex with 12 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms listed at $1,370,000 to top new inventory. A fire-damaged 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom fourplex in Minneapolis’ Folwell neighborhood was the market’s latest rehab opportunity at $94,400.

The Twin Cities saw 50 small multifamily properties sell in January. This was down 37.5% from December. Sales usually decline between those two months, as there are also fewer listings available for purchase, and would-be buyers are distracted by the holidays. It did trail January 2025’s 62 sale transaction total.

A rare, fully rehabbed St Louis Park 8 bedroom, 4 bathroom fourplex topped January’s sales at $945,000. A 5 bedroom,  2 bathroom house conversion in the Thomas-Dale (Frogtown) neighborhood was the month’s value at $190,000. Listings spent an average of 50 and median of 33 days prior to selling. When including those properties that had previously been on the market, withdrawn and relisted, those figures swelled to an average of 64 and median of 42 days.

For the first time in my recollection, Minneapolis and St Paul made equal contributions to sales totals with 16 each.

Successful sellers netted 97.9% of their original list price. The month saw an average sales price of $458,98 and median of $420,000. Year-over-year, this represented a median increase of 8% and average rise of 10.5%. Both were more than 68.5% increases from January 2016. That alone means real estate continues to be a good investment.

It’s important to note January’s absorption rate, also known as months supply of inventory, stood at 5. That market suggests buyers may have gained some important negotiating power with sellers. Over the last year to 18 months, however, there have been isolated cases of months supply of inventory, only to have them drop back down into seller-friendly totals. As we move closer to spring, we may be able to tell whether this was, in fact, an isolated incident, or the first market in an evolving trend.

If you’re thinking of buying or selling a duplex, give me a call. I’d be happy to help you determine the best strategy to help you achieve your goals.