How’s the Market in Tucson?
May 29, 2009
I did a bit of traveling this week and as I’m talking to this group of people from across the country, the questions I’m asked are always the same – How’s the market?
Don’t get me wrong. I know my local Tucson market conditions. But it isn’t an easy question to answer without more information. Here’s why:
From $0-$200k, single family homes in Central Tucson, in April 2009, 66 homes sold, and there are 347 homes on the market. That’s 5.3 months of inventory, or 2 homes selling every day.
From $0-$200k, single family homes in Northwest Tucson, in April 2009, 108 homes sold, and there are 473 on the market. That’s 4.4 months of inventory, or 3 homes selling every day.
From $800k-$1mil, single family homes in North Tucson, in April 2009, 4 homes sold, and there are 69 on the market. That’s 17.3 months of inventory, or 1 home selling every 8 days.
So it really depends on your particular market segment. You’ll encounter vastly different market conditions depending on not only area, but price band.
Grant Road Character and Design Workshops
May 27, 2009
The Grant Road improvements are coming…
The road alignment was approved earlier this year – now the task force and planning team is holding meetings with the public to discuss the character and design of the final project. The meetings are June 2-4th from 6-9pm and each night discusses a different segment of the improvements.
If you want to go, make sure you RSVP to information@grantroad.info. And look at the Grant Road Project website for complete details.
Happy Memorial Day!
May 25, 2009
I do love summer in Tucson.
And hammocks. There’s nothing like just before the sun goes down, when the day has cooled and dusk slowly appears, to be swinging in the hammock, shoes off, cold drink in hand.
With all the four million things that keep us busy during the day, it’s nice to take 20 minutes to breathe and stop and think, to find a small measure of quiet in an otherwise hectic day. What better way to do so than at dusk in a hammock?
Perfection.
Should I Leave The Swamp Cooler When I Install A/C?
May 21, 2009
I kind of love Twitter.
It’s a community where you can interact with a huge audience of people, share information, random thoughts, and generally be social. I’m @housechick on Twitter, by the way.
I talk to a group of people here in Tucson that are also on this social network – and sometimes, I get to be helpful instead of just saying hi and talking about what we’re doing.
Like today. Someone here in Tucson is having an air conditioner installed and was wondering if it was worthwhile to leave the evaporative cooler on the house or not. They were wondering if it would make their house more desirable if they left the swamp cooler on, and – knowing I’m a local real estate agent here in Tucson – they asked me. And I’m always happy to answer questions when I can.
I think that leaving the swamp cooler on the house doesn’t hurt. Most people never touch it again once they get the A/C installed and running. So while I don’t think it will detract from the value, I don’t think it will add a whole lot of value either. But – it could make the house more appealing to those who enjoy the lower cost of running a evaporative cooler in our dry months. So I say leave it, as long as the cooler is in good shape, properly winterized and covered, and is well closed-off from the rest of the HVAC system.
Are you on Twitter too? Stop on by and say hello!
Tucson Market Statistics and Report – April 2009
May 20, 2009
The Overview via Podcast:
Download Tucson Market Stats for April 2009 here (MP3) or subscribe to the Tucson Market Reports podcast here.
The Quick Numbers:
- Single Family Home Average Sales Price: $203,289
- Single Family Home Median Sales Price: $168,000
- Single Family Home Units Sold: 676
- Single Family Home Months of Inventory: 8.9 months
- Townhouse Average Sales Price: $164,394
- Townhouse Median Sales Price: $157,000
- Townhouse Units Sold: 71
- Townhouse Months of Inventory: 9.1 months
- Condo Average Sales Price: $117,575
- Condo Median Sales Price: $118,950
- Condo Units Sold: 28
- Condo Months of Inventory: 17.9 months
- Citywide Average Sales Price: $196,629
- Citywide Median Sales Price: $164,195
- Citywide Units Sold: 775
- Citywide Months of Inventory: 9.2 months
Check out those pending sales – 2028 units pending in April. Here’s hoping a lot of them close! I’m seeing more activity out there, especially in the lower price ranges. I’m also seeing fairly high rates of deals falling thru – pending sales are up nearly 14% over last month, but closed sales only increased 2%. Getting a buyer and seller to agree is one thing, getting a deal to actually complete is quite another!
I know I say it every month, but I can’t stress this enough. Forget the national media. Look at your local market – and look at your own area and price band within your local market. In Tucson, under $300k, there is 7 months of inventory. Not terrible. In the $300k-600k range, there is 17 months of inventory. Huge difference. I’m not saying everything is peachy-keen, but you can’t translate what is going on in another city or even another price band to every niche in our market.
Seasonally, we expect sales to start picking up over summer, and we’ve seen that a little bit. Citywide, the average sales prices are still dropping, as well as the median sales prices. In fact, this is the first time I’ve seen the citywide average dip under $200k since I’ve started tracking numbers here on the blog. My citywide sales price distribution chart tells me that the under $200k market is still very active while the $200k+ market isn’t selling as well. The lack of higher priced sales and the high activity in the lower price bands is a factor in that decreasing sales price – as well as declining market values overall. My experience in the market tells me that prices are dropping faster in the higher price bands than they are in the lower price bands – higher activity will tend to stabilize prices. Once again, looking at a city average sales price doesn’t really set proper expectations. We have to look at each specific niche.
Speaking of which, there are extensive charts and statistics and whatnot, broken down by area and type of housing, over at Statistics.Housechick.com. The market in this city varies widely from one end to the other, so you can check out what’s going on in your area over at that section of my site.
Data gathered from the Tucson MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Figures quoted here include only single family homes, townhomes, and condos in the 9 areas that make up the Greater Tucson Area: NW, N, NE, W, C, E, SW, S, and SE.
tags: market reports, market statistics, tucson, tucson real estate
Flor de Liz Dance Spring Ensemble Performance
May 14, 2009
It’s that time again! 
I’m a teacher and choreographer and dancer over at the Flor de Liz Dance studio, and our Spring performance is this weekend.
It’s at the Stevie Eller Theater on the U of A Campus this Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm. That’s this May 15th and 16th. Tickets are $8 for adults, and $6 for children, seniors, and students.
It lasts about an hour and is a very family friendly show. There’s some formal ballet, some modern, some group pieces, solos, dancers of all ages, all of it entertaining and fun.
I’m in one piece, sort of a jazzy period piece wearing these snazzy shoes and polka dots.
Yes. Polka dots. That should be enough to pique your interest right there.
AND – my tweens are performing a piece I choreographed for them from Les Patineurs, a dance about skaters. They’re very sweet and happy and dance their little buns off. I’ve been working with them quite a bit this year about formations and exact positions, and it’s starting to pay off. I’m so proud of my class this year!
So come and watch the performance. Bring a friend, buy a ticket at the door. It’ll be a good time, I promise.
You Pick: Dated and Established, or New and Undeveloped?
May 13, 2009
I’ve been working with a buyer lately who is looking for newer housing. We started up in North Tucson, gradually working our way East, down the Houghton corridor.
In this buyer’s price range, the options for newer housing in North Tucson are mostly from the mid 1990s, up near Sunrise and Kolb. And they are perfectly nice houses, though usually on smaller lots than what my buyer desired. Some awesome views though, and a nice community.
Working our way down East, we ran into much newer homes – from the 2000s and earlier, and could get a newer home on a larger lot for the same money. Out in that Houghton corridor though, there are still bare patches where the commercial development has yet to fill in.
So do you pick area with a house that feels dated? Or do you pick the nicer house on the nicer lot in an area that isn’t fully developed?
Sometimes, a home feeling dated is all about the smaller cues. The gold accents instead of the more popular silver of today. The whitewashed cabinets instead of a darker wood grain. The living areas sectioned off into more distinct regions than the popular great room plans today. The lower ceilings. The longer hallways and closed off kitchens. Recessed lighting with yellowed or dark plastics. Odd tile transitions between an original tile area and one where the carpet was replaced with tile, but an exact match couldn’t be found. Popcorn ceilings. A lot of that, fixable.
The undeveloped area has plans to widen Houghton, maybe even eventually to six lanes. Granted, that could easily be 10-15 years off. How will that road noise effect a property? What kind of commercial building will be built adjacent to the community? How will that impact the lifestyle of the residents?
So which do you choose?
Tucson Life – The Week in Photos
May 8, 2009
Lots of lizards this week. And bees. Also birds, cat flaps, and a vegetable do-nut shop.
Tucson Market Statistics and Report – March 2009
May 4, 2009
The Overview via Podcast:
Download Tucson Market Stats for March 2009 here (MP3) or subscribe to the Tucson Market Reports podcast here.
The Quick Numbers:
- Single Family Home Average Sales Price: $222,195
- Single Family Home Median Sales Price: $174,950
- Single Family Home Units Sold: 678
- Single Family Home Months of Inventory: 9.1 months
- Townhouse Average Sales Price: $158,228
- Townhouse Median Sales Price: $132,500
- Townhouse Units Sold: 53
- Townhouse Months of Inventory: 12.6 months
- Condo Average Sales Price: $129,968
- Condo Median Sales Price: $123,450
- Condo Units Sold: 26
- Condo Months of Inventory: 18.9 months
- Citywide Average Sales Price: $214,549
- Citywide Median Sales Price: $172,000
- Citywide Units Sold: 760
- Citywide Months of Inventory: 9.7 months
Welcome to Spring in Tucson! Seasonal trends are still in effect – sales typically pick up in early Spring and stay higher until August or so, which is exactly what happened in March. The number of sales were up, pending sales were up, and months of inventory were down, as were average sale prices.
Check out the citywide sale price distribution charts – sales of homes in the $0-$250,000 range is where most of the activity increase occurred. If you stop and think about the market, it makes sense. With the first time buyer tax credit, good FHA interest rates, and a healthy supply of foreclosed homes selling at a discount, it makes sense that the first time buyer market price band would pick up. There’s some investor activity picking up too, if my received email is any indication.
Look at those months of inventory charts by area too. The high end markets – especially the North and Northeast – have a glut of high end properties that aren’t selling. But check out the Southern band of town – Southwest, South, Southeast, even the East – all months of inventory levels coming down into more of a balanced range.
Inventory levels are still on the high side, and not coming down very quickly. We’ve been in the low 7000 range of properties for sale for a good 8 months now.
If you’re buying in this market, analyze your price band carefully. You’ll encounter a very different market in the $150,000 price range than you will in the $1,000,000 price range.
If you’re selling in this market, same goes. Pricing, condition, and fabulous presentation are more important than ever. If you’re not the best looking, best priced, best presented house on the block, then you aren’t selling.
As always, there are extensive charts and statistics and whatnot, broken down by area and type of housing, over at Statistics.Housechick.com. The market in this city varies widely from one end to the other, so you can check out what’s going on in your area over at that section of my site.
Data gathered from the Tucson MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Figures quoted here include only single family homes, townhomes, and condos in the 9 areas that make up the Greater Tucson Area: NW, N, NE, W, C, E, SW, S, and SE.
tags: market reports, market statistics, tucson, tucson real estate
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