Do Minneapolis Duplexes Really Appreciate Slower Than Houses?

The other day a prospective Minneapolis duplex seller told me he was frustrated. He didn’t think his duplex had really gone up in value since he bought it in the years he’d owned it.

That gnawed at me. I decided to take a look at some facts. Do duplexes appreciate any less than single-family homes?

I admit I was surprised by the results.

In 2016, the median price for a single-family home in the 7-county area was $237,000. While it could still change, year-to-date the median value is $395,000. That’s a 66.6% increase in a decade.

The median sales price for a duplex in the 7-county metro area in 2016 was $230,000. Fast forward to today, and it’s currently $415,000. That’s an increase of 80.4%.

If I drill down to just Minneapolis and St Paul, the median price for single-family homes in 2016 was $207,000. Today it’s up 58.5% to $328,000. And 2-4 unit properties? Their median was $230,000 in 2016. Year-to-date, it’s $400,000. That’s a 73.9% increase.

And when we drill down to just the city of Minneapolis, where the largest number of 2-4 unit buildings are found, the median value in 2016 started much stronger than in the other sectors at $270,000. To date in 2026, that median jumped to $422,841. That’s an increase of 56.6%. Single-family homes, meanwhile, posted a median of $230,000 a decade ago, and are on track to finish 2026 at $355,000. Here, houses fared slightly better than multifamily, with a 58.3% increase over a decade.

There are a couple of other factors this seller missed. First, he purchased during the no-money down-ride-the-appreciation wave of 2005. Because investors could purchase a property with little to no money down, and their payments were interest-only for the first five years, nearly every property cash-flowed and price almost became irrelevant.

Second, those who bought houses instead of duplexes in 2005 made 100% of the payments themselves. There were no tenants contributing to paying down the mortgage of covering taxes and insurance.

While those single-family home buyers got to deduct their annual mortgage interest, they did not get the additional benefit of having depreciation reduce their income tax burden. And they most certainly did not get any cash flow.

During the last decade, the median rent for a 2-bedroom unit also rose from $1100 a month to $1500. Anyone who bought a median-priced $270,000 duplex in 2016 at a then-average interest rate of 3.5%, likely has a monthly principal and interest payment of just $969.94 and now owes $166,759.90.

This isn’t to make anyone lament mortgage interest rates, or to whine that everything back then was a deal and ask why people didn’t just buy everything. Here’s the deal. Back then? Buyers told me they thought the market hadn’t bottomed out yet. Or rates were going to go down. Or, frankly, they offered any number of other reasons why it wasn’t the right time to buy.

Just like they do today.

I wonder what they’ll say 10 years from now.