Home Sales Down in the Tucson Luxury Market?

January 15, 2009 | By Kelley Koehler | Filed Under Market Discussion

Question from the audience – rephrased: How are sales doing in the higher end price ranges? Specifically in the $700k range?

Answer: Not so hot. The chart below explains. That’s the number of sales over 2007 and 2008, in the $600k-$700k range, and the $700k-$800k range.

Generally, sales are down in those price ranges, year over year. I was running my stats for December last night, and sales are up over last month, months of inventory are down in several areas – but not really in the upscale parts of town. The North and the Northeast both – typically the highest priced areas – are suffering. The luxury market is over-saturated. Combine that with decreased sales, and you’ve got a problem: high months of inventory, rapidly decreasing average sale prices.

Comments

One Response to “Home Sales Down in the Tucson Luxury Market?”

Scott on January 15th, 2009 7:49 pm

Oh, Tucson luxury market – please do drop. I’m ready to move now and buy in Tanque Verde, but I won’t pay $1,000,000 for a $500,000 house that has been vacant since it was built. I’ll maybe pay $750,000, albeit with a pained grimace.

I theorize that it is developing into a battle of wills between speculator sellers with very deep pockets, and snowbird buyers like me who are facing 20%-30% losses when selling their current homes, and who want to see evidence of the same drop at the Tucson end before we come into town to buy.

How deep are those pockets, anyway? So far they seem bottomless.

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Other Information That Might Be Helpful

Tucson Market Report and Statistics – February 2009 (March 26, 2009)
No podcast today – caught myself a cold and it took my voice. But the stats go on…

The Quick Numbers:

Single Family Home Average Sales Price: $235,819
Single Family Home Median Sales Price: $188,500
Single Family Home Units Sold: 503
Single Family Home Months of Inventory: 12.2 months

Townhouse Average Sales Price: $170,387
Townhouse Median Sales Price: $143,500
Townhouse Units [...]
Tucson Market Statistics and Report – October 2009 (November 6, 2009)
Turns out, October was a lot like September. The average sales prices continue to drop, but the number of homes sold is increasing, the number of pending sales is still high, and the number of new listings is up a bit too. All that activity is concentrated in the lower price ranges, especially in the sub $150,000 market. In fact, there’s less than 5 months of inventory in that price range – meaning there is decent demand for those homes. That would make sense, given the $8000 tax credit incentive to close before the end of November. I’ve been asked several times about what the future for Tucson’s housing market holds. There are so many factors – that tax credit extension, mortgage resets, the holidays coming up, there are too many to list. I’m willing to say that our housing slide has slowed – at least for the time being, but I’m not convinced it has stopped. Here’s why:
Tucson Market Statistics and Report – September 2009 (October 12, 2009)
We’re heading into our Tucson winter slow-down. Activity is actually a little higher than I expected, especially in the lower price ranges. There are lots of buyers out there trying to take advantage of that $8000 tax credit – and they all need to close on a home by the end of November.