Rental in Saint Cloud, MN

[Fong Lee]

Anyone got any rental properties in Saint Cloud, MN? How does the market perform there? I see that it has a population close to Maplewood, MN. Is the vacancy high? Is it hard or easy to find tenants? How is the job market there too if you live there, is it easy to find a job or not?

[James Hamling]

@Fong Lee As a person heavily active in the St Cloud market I will speak from actual experience on the ground. 

As far as unit demand, it's off the charts. Everything we list available is getting dozens of applications in first week, the hard work is keeping up with demand. 

The SCSU campus vacancies have 0 effect in standard housing rentals. the campus rentals are basically bedrooms, no joke, so there could be 10,000 of those available and it has 0 affect on the demand for standard housing units because it's like comparing a glut of bicycles available affecting car & truck sales, comparing apples to baseballs. 

Healthcare employment is a major driver in the St Cloud market as it houses the regional hospital and medical facilities, people travel in from far around to receive medical services, which powers a niche STR market in the area. In addition there is also a major VA regional hospital to add to that.

There is considerable manufacturing in the area of various kinds, Capital One has a headquarters although for most part the lower wages empowers much of the larger employers in the area so affordable housing is a solid go-to. 

The new construction apartments going up are all but exclusively class A luxury apartments, I know the builders and investment group.

Rents are similar to twin cities rates although property acquisition is significantly less than twin cities rates making for considerably better return rate potentials. 

Crime rate is not an issue, nor do I believe it is going up, if anything St Cloud is far more stable than a great many markets out there right now. The areas in St Cloud that are so called "bad" areas, I would walk the dark alleys alone at 2am, the worst areas in St Cloud are comparable with an average area in Brooklyn park. There is nowhere in St Cloud that comes close to a N.Mpls area. 

The #1 job market problem in St Cloud is filling open positions, I hear business owners and managers complaining about needing to find more people almost daily in St Cloud, so how hard is it to find a job in St Cloud, it's down to fogging a mirror and you got a job, lol, literally.