The St. Paul Weekly Edit: What Happened This Week

Election Week in St. Paul: Buyers Got More Time, but the Best Homes Still Sold in Days

Macalester-Groveland, Highland Park, Summit Hill, Summit University & Merriam Park | November 1 to 9, 2026

Election weeks have a way of making a whole city pause. Inboxes fill up, yard signs come down, and plenty of buyers decide the house hunt can wait until Wednesday. Central Saint Paul still closed six homes between November 1 and 9, and the week had something worth saying: buyers have more time to decide than they did in early fall, and the best homes are still not waiting for anyone.

Macalester-Groveland: Same Week, Two Very Different Timelines

Four homes closed in Macalester-Groveland this week at a median sale price of $568,750, with a median of 32 days on market and 98.9% of list price. That pace is level with last week's 31 days, but well off mid-September, when the neighborhood's median was just 6 days.

The four sales tell two different stories. A three-bedroom on Berkeley closed in 6 days at 101.1% of list, and a two-bedroom on Palace closed in 7 days at full price, with a $10,000 seller concession. At the other end, a 1952 five-bedroom on Mississippi River Boulevard came to market at $3,250,000, was reduced to $2,250,000 and sold for $2,200,000 after 114 days.

Same neighborhood, same week, two very different timelines. Price decides which one you get.

Highland Park: 121% of List in Three Days

One home closed in Highland Park this week, and it was the headline: a 1950 two-bedroom on Saunders that sold for $575,000, or 121.1% of its $475,000 list price, in 3 days. Median days on market across the neighborhood's activity held at 25, identical to last week.

This median is based on a single sale, so read it as one strong data point rather than the neighborhood's price. What it does confirm is that buyers will still move fast, and compete, for the right house. Highland also carries the deepest pending list of the five, with 16 homes under contract, several of them in under a week.

Summit Hill: A Quiet Week at the Top of the Market

Summit Hill recorded no new closings this week. The median sale price of $620,000 and 99.2% of list are carried from last week, and that figure was itself based on a single sale. Median days on market across current activity rose to 62, up from 53.

Summit Hill's inventory skews high, with a median list price of $799,000 across its active and pending homes, and several of its larger historic properties have been on the market more than 100 days. At that level, longer timelines are normal. A quiet closing week here more often reflects a thin, high-end market than a slowing one.

Summit University: The Pending List Tells the Truer Story

Summit University also recorded no new closings. The $1,300,000 median sale price and 100.1% of list are carried from last week's single sale, an exceptional 1909 six-bedroom that sits well above the neighborhood's typical price point. Median days on market across current activity came in at 61, up from 57.

The pending list offers a truer picture of where most of this market lives. Four homes went under contract here at a median list price of $329,950.

Merriam Park: One Closing, and Pendings That Moved Fast

One home closed in Merriam Park: a 1913 three-bedroom on Dayton that sold for $445,000, or 96.8% of list, after 45 days on market, with a $1,500 seller credit. Median days on market across the neighborhood eased slightly to 39, from 41 last week.

This is a single sale and a small sample. The pending list is more telling. Two homes went under contract in three days or less, one of them the same day it listed.

Why Are Days on Market Rising in St. Paul?

Across these five neighborhoods, the pace has eased since early fall. In mid-September, Macalester-Groveland homes sold at a median of 6 days and Highland Park at 13. This week those figures are 32 and 25. Summit Hill and Summit University both rose again week over week.

Some of that is the calendar. November brings shorter days, the holidays come into view, and an election week gives buyers a reason to wait. Some of it is the market settling into a steadier rhythm.

For buyers, this is good news. More time means a second showing, a real inspection and a decision made at the kitchen table instead of in a parking lot. Offering up a kidney or your firstborn is no longer the price of admission. For sellers, it means buyers are reading price more carefully, and the right number matters more than ever.

Do the Best St. Paul Homes Still Sell Fast? Yes.

The slower pace is not universal. A Highland Park home closed in 3 days at 121.1% of list. Two Macalester-Groveland homes closed in a week or less, at or above asking. In Highland, a $720,000 home on Edgcumbe went pending the day it listed.

Buyers have more time now, but they still recognize the right house the moment they see it, and they act.

The Micro View

Monthly market reports give the broad view: the direction of prices, inventory and demand across the city. They are essential, and they are the right lens for the big picture.

The Weekly Edit is the close-up. It tracks five neighborhoods, sale by sale, week after week, because a single high or low week is a moment, not a market. The nuance only shows itself over time, and that is where the truer read lives. Check back next week to see how election week fits into the larger story.

About Natasha Cejudo

Natasha Cejudo is a Saint Paul real estate advisor with Lakes Sotheby's International Realty, specializing in Macalester-Groveland, Highland Park, Summit Hill, Summit University and Merriam Park. In real estate since 2005, she represents buyers and sellers of architecturally distinctive and historic homes in central Saint Paul, and publishes The St. Paul Weekly Edit, a weekly neighborhood-level analysis of closed sales across these five neighborhoods.