New St. Paul Housing Data

Over the past few years, the City of St. Paul has implemented several new policies to address the current housing shortage. In 2021, voters approved a Rent Stabilization ballot initiative, which prohibits landlords from increasing rents by more than 3% within a 12-month period (with some exceptions). Later, in 2023, the City adopted changes to its zoning ordinance, which now allows for duplexes, triplexes, etc. in most neighborhoods.

These changes have already started to impact housing in the capitol City. Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis launched a new online dashboard that tracks contextual and market-based indicators related to housing. This tool provides information regarding household demographics, housing characteristics, production, price, and cost burden, among other metrics.  The dashboard will be updated annually as new data becomes available. Users can also view how St. Paul compares to neighboring municipalities and other cities across the US.

The dashboard reveals some emerging trends in the wake of recent housing reforms. For example, production of multi-family apartments (5+ units) has fallen by almost 90% since 2021, while duplex/triplex/fourplex units have increased by 104% within that same timeframe. The gross vacancy rate of renter-occupied units has also stabilized since hitting a high of 7.5% in 2022. This trend has been particularly pronounced in the Downtown, which saw a 33% decrease in the vacancy rate since 2020.

Other factors impacting housing trends in St. Paul may also be at play. For instance, the cost of building materials has risen by 40% since 2020, which makes for tighter pro formas for new development projects.

Regardless, new data and tools like the dashboard created by the Federal Reserve of Minneapolis make it easier to tack how housing is shifting in the City over time.