Lack Of Tax Credit Slows Duplex Sales

I guess we can blame the absence of the first time home buyer tax credit for everything.

Duplex sales for the week ending March 5 in Minneapolis and St Paul were down 25.9 percent from the same week last year.

Traditional sellers had 20 percent of the accepted purchase agreements for the week. Properties that involve banks in the negotiations of a sale made up the rest.

Overall, new duplex and small multifamily listings, regardless of whether a bank was involved in the negotiations or not, were down 13.5 percent.

Last week, I lamented a lack of quality, owner-occupied type duplexes on the market. This week, statistics back up my perception. Last year during the first week of March, in an effort to beat the expiration of the first time home buyer tax credit, traditional sellers brought 64,8 percent of the new inventory to the market.

This year, they brought just 37.5 percent.

Do I even need to say the average off market price for the week of $106,998 was down from last year’s average sold price of $125,672?

Interestingly, the duplex market seems to be in lock-step with single family homes. That market segment saw a decline of 11.4 percent in signed purchase agreements for the week and 19 percent fewer new listings.