I’ve got a century plant blooming in my yard!  At least I think it is some variety of a century plant.  Plant identification is not my best topic.  I’m usually better at killing plants than growing them.

Century plants are one of my favorite.  They’re these sort of low, spiky plants that stay green year round.  In my yard, the lizards tend to hide in the shade of the arms, and scurry away if you walk close by.

They throw off pups – recreating themselves in miniature around the base of the plant.  Leave the pups to grow, or transplant them because you’ll need them when the original plant blooms.

It doesn’t take a century to bloom – more like 7-15 years – but when they do, it sends up this huge spike from the center, growing at an incredible rate.  They can easily reach 25, even 40 feet tall.  This spike in my  yard shot up in the past 2 weeks.  Eventually, it grows and blooms and is gorgeous.

And then the bloom dies, taking the original plant with it, leaving a handful of pups behind to repeat the cycle.

The average house cost $122,387, with a median of $118,000.  Last month, the average was $118,743 – typical of January to be down a bit, and – also – typical of February to be up a bit.  Last year at this time, the average home sale price was $138,364, a year over year decline in home values of nearly 12%.

In Feburary 2010, there were 435 homes listed, and 54 sales, giving us 8.1 months of inventory, also called the absorption rate.  That means roughly one in every 8 homes listed managed to sell and close.  If we follow seasonal trend, that number should improve over the following months.

There’s really little townhome/condo market in the Southwest to speak of.  There was a single sale, at $115,000, with 26 others listed.

Star Valley and Tucson Mountain Ranch were popular areas in February – two of the larger communities in Southwest Tucson.  On the higher end of the price range, there were two sales in Critterland, a TJ Bednar community built in the early 2000s on nice large acre-ish lots.

Of 55 sales, 4 were short sales and 26 were bank owned homes, making distressed sales nearly 55% of the resale market in Southwest Tucson.

You can always see the chart versions of this data too, at my Southwest Tucson Market page.

The raw numbers:

The average house cost $197,969, with a median of $143,950 in February 2010.  Last month, the average was $227,325, and last year at this time, the average was $252,821.  As you can see clearly, West Tucson is still in a home value decline.

There’s also an oversupply, much like the rest of Tucson.  With 332 houses listed and 28 sales, there’s nearly 12 months of supply in West Tucson – a value more similar to those in the very ugly housing year of 2008.

A handful of townhomes and condos sold in February too – a typical townhome cost $91,960 and the average condo cost $91,900.  That’s a pretty high value for a condo – there was only one that sold.  Usually, average condo prices have been more in the $40k-60k range.

El Rio Park and Ironwood had the most sales in February, with 3 apiece. 

Of the 34 homes that sold, 15 were bank owned homes and 4 were short sales, making distressed properties nearly 56% of the housing market in West Tucson. 

You can always see the chart versions of this data too, at my West Tucson Market page.

The raw numbers:

The average single family house cost $277,230, with a median of $225,899.  Last year at this time, the average sales price was $271,637, with a median of $238,900, a year over year decline of 2%.  However, there’s still an oversupply of houses – 1989 for sale, and 167 sold in February 2010.  That’s nearly a 12 month supply of houses.

Townhomes continue to wobble in the mid to high $100s, posting an average sale price of $182,461 in February.  The condo market sold off a few of the lower end units, with an average sale price of $78,200.  Normally, condos are averaging in the low $100s.

Overall, the Northwest is moving along – inventory should start to move a bit quicker over the next few months, which tends to bring a small increase in average prices.  You can see how the Northwest Tucson housing market moves over time in this inventory and price chart. 

It’s good to see some homes moving again in Gladden Farms after that whole FEMA floodplain fiasco.  Saddlebrooke had a big month too, along with Sky Ranch.

Of the 191 homes sold, 21  were short sales, and were 51 bank owned homes, making distressed home sales nearly 38% of the housing market in Northwest Tucson.

You can always see the chart versions of this data too, at my Northwest Tucson Market page.

The raw numbers:

But people get nervous that so many credit score inquires will lower their overall scores.

Not true, in this instance.  Mortgage Man Dan explains in this post:

As such, the credit bureaus have made it formal policy to permit “rate shopping”.  Talk to as many lenders as you want in a 14-day time frame; have your credit checked as often as you’d like; compare rates and fees.  All of the inquiries will be lumped into a single application.

So go ahead and shop around in your 14 day window – all those credit inquiries only count as one. 

• Single Family Home Average Sales Price: $220,674
• Single Family Home Median Sales Price: $164,950
• Single Family Home Units Sold: 532
• Single Family Home Months of Inventory: 11.3 months

• Townhouse Average Sales Price: $154,998
• Townhouse Median Sales Price: $139,000
• Townhouse Units Sold: 65
• Townhouse Months of Inventory: 9.6 months

• Condo Average Sales Price: $106,500
• Condo Median Sales Price: $91,900
• Condo Units Sold: 33
• Condo Months of Inventory: 14.7 months

• Citywide Average Sales Price: $207,918
• Citywide Median Sales Price: $159,000
• Citywide Units Sold: 630
• Citywide Months of Inventory: 11.3 months

Well, we didn’t pop out of our January slump as nicely as I might have hoped.  Usually, we see a decent increase in sales activity between January and February.  While sales went up a tad, it wasn’t nearly as much as the seasonal trend would indicate.

There were 630 homes sold in February, up slightly from the 613 sales in January.  Seasonally, sales pick up a bit in February and keep doing so until the typical peak in late summer, around July.  I’d expect that number of sales to improve over the next couple of months.  Not only is the expiration for the $8000 tax credit rapidly approaching, but we’re heading into our usual high season.  I know my inquiries and the activity on my sites has increased recently.

Inventory picked up a bit, to 7137 units, compared to 6879 last month, which doesn’t surprise me – often inventory goes up at this time.  What I didn’t like was that pending units were down to 1712, down from 1907 in January.  Pending sales are a leading indicator of closed sales – when pending sales are down, that usually means closed sales will be down the following month.  We’ll have to wait through March to find out for sure, but I’d hate to see pending sales drop any further over the next few months.  We’re in a rather unstable market, and a series of falling pending sales figures would mean things are getting worse.  A trend to watch, for sure.

The absorption rate, or months of inventory, stayed stable from last month, at 11.3 months.  That means roughly one in every eleven homes listed managed to sell and close.  Again, seasonally, we’d expect this inventory level to fall as sales pick up over the Summer.

The average sale price in Tucson was $207,918 with a median of $159,000.  Last year at this time, we were at an average of $217,491 with a median of $165,250 – a decline of just over 4%.

For comparison, the average single family home in Tucson cost $220,674, townhomes were just under $155,000, and the average condo sells at $106,500.

There were 63 closed short sales and 217 closed bank owned homes, out of the 630 units sold total, which is just over 44% of the resale market in Tucson.  Last month, were were at 45%, so distressed sales are holding steady for the month. 

Don’t forget to watch for the market reports for each part of town – there will be updates to those in the coming weeks: Northwest, North, Northeast, West, Central, East, Southwest, South, and Southeast.  If you find errors, have comments or suggestions, please let me know!

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.

This Friday, March 5, 2010, they’re holding an Andy Warhol Pop Art event at the Tucson Museum of Art from 8pm to midnight.  And I’ll be there at 8pm on behalf of the Tucson Digital Arts Community building canned food sculptures.

Yes, sculptures of food cans.  In honor of Andy Warhol.

So come support me and team TDAC as we compete with 2 other teams in the canned food extravaganza, in support of the Community Food Bank.  We’ve got a sweet sculpture planned, but you gotta be there to see it for yourself!

But it’s not just fun with canned food.  There’s complimentary hors d’oeuvers, martini samples from Sullivans, a fondu fountain, two full bars, a DJ, dancing, and – of course – networking with other young(ish) professionals from Tucson.  Plus, your ticket includes admission to all galleries at the Tucson Museum of Art.  A deal that can’t be beat.

Admission is $10 before 8:30, when the price goes up to $20.  Bring 3 cans of food for $5 off.

And don’t forget stop by the team TDAC canned sculpture table and say hello!

In January 2010, the average house cost $535,001 with a median of $412,500.

In January 2009, the average house cost $535,563 with a median of $412,000.

Nearly identical.  Of course, that one fact doesn’t mean the market hasn’t moved at all.  It has.  Just slowly, and in a downward direction.

There’s a decent townhome and condo market in North Tucson.  The average townhome cost $281,467 and there was a 7.9 month supply – the townhomes are selling at a decent rate.  Condos, on the other hand, had 15.7 months of inventory – the condo market remains flooded.  The average condo will set you back $146,110 in North Tucson. 

Overall, there were 38 houses, 15 townhomes, and 11 condos that sold in North Tucson, for a total of 65 units sold.  With 822 homes listed, that’s 12.7 months of inventory.  Last January?  Only 31 sales.  Things are moving a little better in our Northern region, even in a slower seasonal month.

Of the 65 sales, 1 was a short sale and and 5 were bank owned homes, making distressed property sales only 9% of the market in North Tucson – I believe that’s the lowest proportion of distressed sale in all of Tucson this month.

You can always see the chart versions of this data too, at my North Tucson Market page.

The raw numbers:

That said, the average single family house cost $363,154, with a median of $305,000.  For comparison, last January the average house cost $362,468 and the median was $325,000.  House prices in Northeast Tucson are still slowly on the way down.  There’s a lot of variance in average and median prices from month to month, but overall home values are still on the way down.

There were 482 listings and 30 sales in January 2010 in Northeast Tucson.  400 were houses, 4 were townhomes.  30 sales is a dip down from last month, but sales typically slow over January.  Nothing unusual there.

Overall, there were 16.1 months of inventory – meaning one out of every 16 homes managed to sell.  Over half of those sales were less than $300,000.  That higher end market is just incredibly slow.

Of the 30 sales, 2 were bank owned and 3 were short sales.  That makes distressed properties nearly 17% of the market – one of the lowest percentages in all of Tucson.

You can always see the chart versions of this data too, at my Northeast Tucson Market page.

The raw numbers:

The average house sale price for January 2010 in West Tucson was $227,325, with a median of $187,500 – the highest we’ve seen since early 2009.  Last year at this time, the average house cost $213,517 with a median of $168,000.

Sales were down a bit, as is typical for the season.  34 houses sold, along with 5 townhomes and 1 condo, for a total of 40 units.  With 425 units listed, that’s 10.6 months of inventory, with single family homes at a slightly lower 9.3 months of inventory.  Still a bit high – more supply than demand – but the West side tends to do best over the Summer season, when sales pick up and inventory dips down a bit.

Of the 40 sales, 2 were short sales and 16 were bank owned sales.  That makes distressed property 45% of the housing market in West Tucson in January.

You can always see the chart versions of this data too, at my West Tucson Market page.

The raw numbers: