Rents Drop in Twin Cities Despite lack of Affordable Housing Construction

Rental prices dropped in Minneapolis and St. Paul in October 2019, but it's too soon to infer lessons from the change in the market.

1 minute read

November 30, 2019, 5:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Minneapolis, Minnesota

Sam Wagner / Shutterstock

Frederick Melo reports: "An interesting thing happened in the St. Paul housing market in October. Rents, which had been climbing faster than inflation, finally dipped, even compared with the same time a year prior."

"Also in the third quarter of 2019, developers were well underway with construction of 643 housing units in St. Paul. How many might be considered affordable? None."

Melo is sharing the findings of new analysis from HousingLink [pdf], a Minneapolis-based affordable housing data and listing service. Rental prices in Minneapolis also declined in every segment of the market. HousingLink President Sue Speakman Gomez is quoted in the article saying it's too soon to tell whether rents are dipping in a temporary reprieve from rising prices, or if the market is softening more significantly.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019 in Pioneer Press

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