Treasury Regulations · 26 CFR

§ 1.165-9. Sale of residential property.

In effect eCFR current as of October 15, 2026

Regulation text, no changes From the eCFR, current as of October 15, 2026. The eCFR is an authoritative but unofficial editorial compilation of the Code of Federal Regulations; the official text is the annual CFR on govinfo. Compare it with this section on ecfr.gov (external site) or the official annual CFR on govinfo (external site).

Regulation under 26 U.S.C. § 165

Cite as 26 CFR § 1.165-9

At a glance

Read from the text and its source citation. Not part of the regulation.

Status: In the current eCFR
Issued: November 26, 1960 by T.D. 6500
Last amended: March 24, 1964 by T.D. 6712
Issued under: 26 U.S.C. § 165
Length: 871 words · about 4 min to read
Cross-references: cites 1 Code section and 4 regulations; cited by 1

¶(a) Losses not allowed. A loss sustained on the sale of residential property purchased or constructed by the taxpayer for use as his personal residence and so used by him up to the time of the sale is not deductible under section 165(a).

¶(b) Property converted from personal use.

¶(1) If property purchased or constructed by the taxpayer for use as his personal residence is, prior to its sale, rented or otherwise appropriated to income-producing purposes and is used for such purposes up to the time of its sale, a loss sustained on the sale of the property shall be allowed as a deduction under section 165(a).

¶(2) The loss allowed under this paragraph upon the sale of the property shall be the excess of the adjusted basis prescribed in § 1.1011-1 for determining loss over the amount realized from the sale. For this purpose, the adjusted basis for determining loss shall be the lesser of either of the following amounts, adjusted as prescribed in § 1.1011-1 for the period subsequent to the conversion of the property to income-producing purposes:

¶(i) The fair market value of the property at the time of conversion, or

¶(ii) The adjusted basis for loss, at the time of conversion, determined under § 1.1011-1 but without reference to the fair market value.

¶(3) For rules relating to casualty losses of property converted from personal use, see paragraph (a)(5) of § 1.165-7. To determine the basis for depreciation in the case of such property, see § 1.167(g)-1. For limitations on the loss from the sale of a capital asset, see paragraph (c)(3) of § 1.165-1.

¶(c) Examples. The application of paragraph (b) of this section may be illustrated by the following examples:

¶Example 1.

Residential property is purchased by the taxpayer in 1943 for use as his personal residence at a cost of $25,000, of which $15,000 is allocable to the building. The taxpayer uses the property as his personal residence until January 1, 1952, at which time its fair market value is $22,000, of which $12,000 is allocable to the building. The taxpayer rents the property from January 1, 1952, until January 1, 1955, at which time it is sold for $16,000. On January 1, 1952, the building has an estimated useful life of 20 years. It is assumed that the building has no estimated salvage value and that there are no adjustments in respect of basis other than depreciation, which is computed on the straight-line method. The loss to be taken into account for purposes of section 165(a) for the taxable year 1955 is $4,200, computed as follows:

Basis of property at time of conversion for purposes of this section (that is, the lesser of $25,000 cost or $22,000 fair market value)	$22,000
Less: Depreciation allowable from January 1, 1952, to January 1, 1955 (3 years at 5 percent based on $12,000, the value of the building at time of conversion, as prescribed by § 1.167(g)-1)	1,800

Adjusted basis prescribed in § 1.1011-1 for determining loss on sale of the property	20,200
Less: Amount realized on sale	16,000

Loss to be taken into account for purposes of section 165(a)	4,200

In this example the value of the building at the time of conversion is used as the basis for computing depreciation. See example (2) of this paragraph wherein the adjusted basis of the building is required to be used for such purpose.

¶Example 2.

Residential property is purchased by the taxpayer in 1940 for use as his personal residence at a cost of $23,000, of which $10,000 is allocable to the building. The taxpayer uses the property as his personal residence until January 1, 1953, at which time its fair market value is $20,000, of which $12,000 is allocable to the building. The taxpayer rents the property from January 1, 1953, until January 1, 1957, at which time it is sold for $17,000. On January 1, 1953, the building has an estimated useful life of 20 years. It is assumed that the building has no estimated salvage value and that there are no adjustments in respect of basis other than depreciation, which is computed on the straight-line method. The loss to be taken into account for purposes of section 165(a) for the taxable year 1957 is $1,000, computed as follows:

Basis of property at time of conversion for purposes of this section (that is, the lesser of $23,000 cost or $20,000 fair market value)	$20,000
Less: Depreciation allowable from January 1, 1953, to January 1, 1957 (4 years at 5 percent based on $10,000, the cost of the building, as prescribed by § 1.167(g)-1	2,000

Adjusted basis prescribed in § 1.1011-1 for determining loss on sale of the property	$18,000
Less: Amount realized on sale	17,000

Loss to be taken into account for purposes of section 165(a)	1,000

[T.D. 6500, 25 FR 11402, Nov. 26, 1960, as amended by T.D. 6712, 29 FR 3652, Mar. 24, 1964]

Cross-references

Computed from the citations in the text of 26 CFR.

Code sections it cites

§ 165 Losses

Regulations it cites

Cited by 1 other regulation

§ 1.165-7 Casualty losses.

Amendment history

From the source citation at the end of the section, newest first. T.D. is a Treasury decision; FR is the Federal Register.

March 24, 1964Amended by T.D. 6712 (29 FR 3652)
November 26, 1960Issued by T.D. 6500 (25 FR 11402)

Where it sits in 26 CFR

Subchapter A Income tax
Part 1 Income taxes
Itemized Deductions for Individuals and Corporations