Duplex Market Breaks Resolutions

The New Year represents a fresh start to many things; weight loss goals, taxes, duplex sales…

And if duplex buyers and sellers resolved to make 2011 better than 2010, they’ve already failed.

The sellers of fifteen duplexes, triplexes and four unit buildings received and accepted purchase agreements the week ending January 8. This is three fewer than last year.

Of these sellers, 26.7% had human names and didn’t have to consult with a bank before agreeing to the transaction.

This is up slightly from last year’s 22 percent traditional sellers.

The average off-market price for the first week of 2011 was a mere $99,560. This is a decline of  22 percent from last year’s average sold price of $128,069.

There was one area where there did appear to be some kind of significant change in behavior, however.

Just 26 new duplex listings hit the market the first week of the year.

Over the same stretch last year, there were 53 newly listed properties to choose from.

Whether this is the result of sellers trying to take advantage of last year’s first time home buyer tax credit or this year’s temporary foreclosure freeze due to the robo-signing investigation, only time will tell.

It promises to be an interesting year.