Tucson Real Estate Market Showing Some Steam…
The Tucson real estate market is experiencing some steam with an increase of 23.08% in volume from $130,258,440 in January 2011 to the $160,319,228 in February 2011. This number is about $15,000,000 higher than February 2010.
Are we out of the woods yet?
The average sales price increased 9.22% from January 2011 to February of 2011; $166,998 to $182,388 in February, but still short of the 2010 numbers which were $201,219 in January 2010 and $195,996 in February 2010.
The average list price increased 8.43% from $177,036 in January 2011 to $191,957 in February 2011. This compares to $201,219 in January 2010 and $206,843 in February 2010 .
The median sales price in February 2011 is $137,000 a decrease from February 2010 of $13,000 ($150,000) but an increase from January 2011 from $134,250 or 2.05%. The median sales price in January 2010 was $160,000.
A total of 2,272 properties were under contract at the end of February 2011, an increase of 60.34% from February 2010 when only 1,417 were under contract. This is a 12.87% increase in February 2011 from January 2011 when 2,013 properties were under contract. This compares to January 2010 when only 1,155 properties were under contract.
Total sales units in February were 879 compared to January 2011 when 780 were sold, an increase of 12.69%. This is more than January 2010 when 712 units were sold and 741 in February 2010.
The numbers of new listings too have declined which may bode well for the Tucson market, maybe signaling that inventory is decreasing. February new listings total 1,487 as compared to 1,949 in January and 2,104 in February 2010 and 2,424 in February 2010. The month over month 2011 decrease is 23.70%, a substantial number.
Active listings have declined from January when 7,147 properties were listed, and February numbers of 6,947 active listings, down 2.80%. This is still higher though than 2010 numbers when 6,739 properties were listed in February and 6,618 in January 2010.
The area with the greatest number of properties on the market is the Northwest with 1772 active listings. This is followed by the Central area with 869 properties for sale and the North Catalina Foothills areas with 727. Only 17 properties are available in the extreme Northeast.
Looking at price points, the majority of homes sell between $100,000 and $159,999. Running the gamut however, Tucson has 44 active properties priced at $29,999 or lower and at the other end of the spectrum, 194 properties price at $1,000,000 or higher.
The average number of days to sell a home in Tucson is 107 days. The extreme Northwest properties sell in an average of 51 days while the northeast properties take 130 days.
The majority of people are paying cash for their real estate purchases (336), followed by Conventional loans (251) and then FHA financing (195). VA loans totaled only 55. The cash purchases may be reflective of the fact investors are active in Tucson. Resort and second home buyers are also cashing in on the “bargains” here and many second home buyers also pay cash.
Prices are similar to the end of 2003 and the first month of 2004. As Marshall Vest, Chief Economist at the Eller School of Management at the University of Arizona told the industry at the Economic Summit, “buy all you can buy, hold it for five years, and make a killing!”
Resources:
http://www.tucsonrealtors.org/tar-v2/statsFeb2011.pdf
Tags: Consumer Education, Statistics, Tucson Home Sales, Tucson Real Estate market