Longfellow Community Has Lowest Days on Market in Metro
The 2010 Twin Cities Area Housing Market Annual Report from the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS is out, with a ton of excellent data about what the heck is happening in real estate these days.
Among the stats they publish, (download the full report as a PDF here [via Aaron Dickinson on Twitter]) is a breakdown of how long it takes properties to sell by area. Area, in this case, is how the real estate industry has sliced and diced our metro, although it tends to follow names that people find familiar. Looking at the various neighborhoods of Minneapolis, here’s how it breaks down, sorted by shorted days on market to longest:
Yep, that’s Longfellow in the lead with an average of 74 days on market. Longfellow, in this case, includes the Seward neighborhood, so basically the entire wedge of Minneapolis found between the Mississippi River and Hiawatha Ave with I-94 on the north and Minnehaha Park on the south.
It turns out that Longfellow didn’t only have the shortest days on market in Minneapolis. It had the shortest days on market out of the 106 areas within the greater Twin Cities metropolitan area surveyed.
Why are Longfellow sellers having so much success selling compared to other neighborhoods within the city? Because people like me, and Mike, and Moe, and Maggie, and Karl, and Justin want to live here. It’s a very affordable community within the city along the awesome Mississippi River trails, with the Midtown Greenway running through it, with a painless commute to downtown and the airport (without airport noise).
With an average size of 1,381 sq ft, and an average price per sq. ft. of $135, some good deals can be found. For example, our neighbors to the west in Nokomis are buying for slightly cheaper at $130 per sq. ft., but that comes with airplane traffic overhead.
The area of Minneapolis that’s most competitive with Longfellow (but just a half step behind) is Northeast. Their days on market is slightly longer (96) but their price per square foot if a very affordable $106. Northeast has a lot going for it, including a solid pub crawl scene, the Mayslack’s Original sandwich, and at least three cool business districts (13th Ave NE at University, University and Central, and Central Ave NE).
But, Longfellow has the trails, the park, the river gorge, and Merlin’s Rest. It’s hard to beat that.
January 25th, 2011 at 9:14 am
Northeast is indeed intriguing, but one thing Longfellow has over it is an easy commute to downtown St. Paul. There’s an express bus (53) and of course the 94, which usually doesn’t have too bad of traffic even at rush hour. Comming to DT St. Paul From NE, though, is another story.
But, you are 100% right that NE has some more exciting business districts. I would love a Brasa or similar on East Lake. I’m hoping your prediction of a new eatery on E. Lake in 2011 is right.
January 25th, 2011 at 10:33 am
Longfellow also has nicer homes for the money. NE seems to be older and not quite as nice looking as the very solid story and a half bungalow, which are also great starter homes for a new family. Oh, and the proximity to St. Paul is great for those that might need to commute to the other city.
January 25th, 2011 at 11:26 am
Some thoughts on this analysis, with my personal bias of my neighborhood being the best
.
I think that Longfellow community has the most consistent housing stock throughout the neighborhood. It only has 6 neighborhoods, as opposed to 11 in Nokomis. For this reason, it has the smallest closed sale housing stock on this summary, 278 houses in LF vs 628 in Nokomis (of the livable communities, obviously University has fewer since it is half industrial/school). Many of the S/SW neighborhoods, if segmented to be similarly consistent could compete relatively closely with those numbers.
Sticking with Nokomis example, the Regina neighborhood. A house on Columbus and 49th (not on the Creek) would probably be worth over double the same house on 1st and 46th. Longfellow may indeed have these same pockets.
January 25th, 2011 at 4:24 pm
More business development on E. Lake would be awesome. I’d welcome a Brasa with open arms, but also, I think a pet store would do well.
January 25th, 2011 at 5:56 pm
I love my Longfellow home. But what’s up with the graffiti lately? My neighborhood has been getting hammered with it lately, and not just the usual Lake Street stuff either, lots of garage doors. I hate that!
January 25th, 2011 at 6:58 pm
@kate, great point about a per shop. We have an animal hospital, and a pet friendly store (Corazon), and a huge unofficial dog park (Winchell Trail) but no pet shop? What’s up with that?
January 25th, 2011 at 7:01 pm
@Chris, I think the graffiti has built up because it has been too cold to cover or remove it. However, garage tagging is definitely a different story than tags on main drags. Make sure to report that stuff.
January 26th, 2011 at 9:19 am
Hey Ed,
I carry a notepad and pen in my car so as to record addresses and report graffiti to the City of Minneapolis website. I’m reporting it constantly. The graffiti that I am referring to is not old stuff building up over time, there has been an increase in the amount of new graffiti in just the last month.
January 28th, 2011 at 10:27 pm
Eddie (I mean, “Ed.”),
Would it be possible to do or find an analysis of rental property and their rent amounts? We own a duplex in the Corcoran neighborhood, just across Hiawatha from Longfellow. We are having trouble renting our upper unit these past few months and are starting to worry that we are asking too much. Where would we begin to find the data to figure that out? You’re the statistics guru – any ideas? Perhaps an idea for a blog posting?
January 29th, 2011 at 11:44 am
HI Molly,
Here are a couple sites that may help you get a feel for the market:
http://www.housingmaps.com/ (maps out prices from Craiglist listings)
http://hotpads.com