The Saint Paul Condo Blog

Wow, what a year!

As promised, I told you I'd crunch the numbers and there are sure some interesting statistics.

First off, the fun nuggets...

There were no sales (as reported by NorthstarMLS, Inc.) in the following buildings:

Chicago Great Western (2006 was the last reported sale and will be for the foreseeable future)
College Hill (2006 was the last reported sale)
John Matheis House (2007 was the last reported sale)
LOT270 (this one was a bit of a shocker, but the development did sell it's last home in 2008)
Park Tower (Since 2000, there have been only 7 reported sales)

When I weed out the properties that shouldn't be listed in downtown, and narrow the list to just the condos in the directory, I come up with a downtown median price of $180,000 and a median size of 1,054sf - which gives us a median Price per Square Feet (PSF for short) of $171psf.

The median price for downtown dropped a bit, down 9.95%.  The PSF fared better, but still down 6.03% 

Top Four buildings based on Median Price increase

1. Mississippi Flats - 66% increase*
2. MarketHouse - 8% increase
3. City Walk - 4% increase
4. Pointe of St Paul - 3% increase

Top Four buildings based on Median Price decrease

1. Gallery Tower - -36% decrease
2. Rossmor - -34% decrease
3. Printers Row - -33% decrease
4. Ninth Street Lofts - -27% decrease

Top Four buildings based on Median Price per Square Foot increase

1. The Pointe - 31% increase
2. Mississippi Flats - 12% increase*
3. Rossmor - 9% increase
4. City Walk - 3% increase

Top Four buildings based on Median Price per Square Foot decrease

1. MarketHouse - -28% decrease
2. Gallery Tower - -24% decrease
3. Printers Row - -21% decrease
4. River Park Lofts - -9% decrease

From looking at the data, one can make a few assumptions.  Median price in a condo means very little on its own.  With the addition of Median size, you can calculate the price per square footage of a condo/loft and get a good snap shot of the value.

Know that smaller units will generally have a higher PSF (price per square feet) than larger units in the same building.  PSF isn't the holy grail either.  There is a lot that can alter the value of a home.  What floor is the unit on?  What view?  Upgrades? - You get the picture.

The data can give someone false impressions at times, and this is where I step in.  If you have questions about a building, it's values, etc...  I'm always willing to chat.

In the coming days, I'll update each condo page with the new 2009 data.  I'm also working on data mining past years.  I've currently got a good breakdown back to 2007, but I want to go back to 2000, kind of the start of the renaissance for Downtown.

*Mississippi Flats is a newer condo development this is finishing out the sales in the building
NOTE - I decided to exclude buildings that only had one sale during the course of the year.