The Suburb With the Most Duplexes? June Data Reveals a Twin Cities Surprise

When I calculated June’s suburban duplex, triplex and fourplex numbers, I was surprised to see South St Paul finishing at the top of multiple categories.

Even though I’ve been selling real estate for over two decades, and I knew South St Paul had a lot of duplexes, if I had to make a wager as to which suburb had the most, I would have placed my bet on either Columbia Heights or Hopkins. So I did what any curious person without a lot of time does these days when we want an answer to a question: I turned to AI for help.

According to Claude, duplexes are a higher percentage of South St Paul’s housing stock than any other suburb in the metro. In fact, it’s 6.3% duplex share, ranks more than a point above Robbinsdale’s 5.1%. Columbia Heights, which would have been my number 1 choice, is actually third at 2.1%, followed by Hopkins at 2.1%.

It makes sense, then, that of June’s 25 new suburban listings, 7 would come from South St Paul. The month’s value play was also found in South St Paul, where a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom, well-maintained house conversion listed for $299,900. However, St Louis Park produced the month’s top-end listing, where a turnkey 8-bedroom, 4-bathroom twin-home-style duplex listed for $949,900.

In all, the suburbs posted 59 active duplex, triplex and fourplex listings in June. This was down from May’s 65, and down 14.5% year-over-year.

South St Paul showed up in the sold column too. June saw 20 small multifamily sales in which sellers obtained an average of 100% of their original asking price. South St Paul and Columbia Heights tied for the most transactions, with 3 closed sales each. A Roseville 7-bedroom, 4-bathroom side-by-side duplex on Walsh Lake topped sales at $740,000. A South St Paul 5-bedroom, 3-bathroom house conversion set a high floor at $310,000.

Suburban sellers managed an average sales price of $481,920 in June, and a median of $438,700, spending an average of just 34 and a median of 13 days on the market before accepting an offer.

In all, with just a 3-month supply of inventory, the suburbs continue to be a seller’s market.