10445 N. Oracle, Suite 121
Tucson, AZ 85737 Office: 520-918-5968 Toll-Free: 888-825-8251 ext. 5968 Fax: 520-989-6114 Brenda@BrendaOBrienTeam.com 
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Brenda's Tucson Housing Market Report
January 2009
With 2008 Behind Us, 2009 Looks Like a Growth Year
Our High Season Has Begun!. Already we are seeing an increase in the number of Buyers out there looking. At an open house last weekend we had 25 people! That's Huge! With town starting to fill up with Snowbirds the outlook is bright for a strong buying season this year. Many of these visitors are seeing prices much lower than they have seen on prior visits over the last few years and hopefully that will stimulate some actual Buying! The new President takes office in a week or so and he has stated that housing is one of his Top Priorities! Anything that this new administration can do to slow the flood of foreclosures will certainly help all the real estate markets across the country. We are anxiously waiting to see what comes out of Washington in the next couple of months. We Expect a Slowly Improving Market in 2009 and believe that we will see a gradual and steadily improving housing market throughout 2009. Real Estate is Cyclical just like the stock market and the timing is right for this to swing around and start another upswing. Everything is shaping up for that including Democrats in office, timing of the cycle and just the fact that Americans in general are positive and upbeat and we're all tired of this negative attitude that has enveloped our nation. Tucson is uniquely positioned to benefit from any improvements in the market with our retirement destination, our wonderful weather and the affordability of our housing stock improving every month. It will take time, but recognize that there are millions of people entering retirement now as the Baby Boomers are retiring by the thousands every day now. A great many of these folks want to move to the Sunbelt just like many of us did. Once the economy turns we expect this demographic group to start buying in earnest all across the Sunbelt. January Looks Good, The Weather is Great and the buyers are here. We're optimistic about the 2009 Buying Season! Key prior month statistics from the Tucson Association of Realtor’s January 2009 Report show: Total Tucson Home Sales Units: 775, Increased 2.92% from December 2007. Increased 22.05% from last month. Total Tucson Pending Sales: 612, Decreased 23.40% from December 2007. Decreased 9.60% from last month. Tucson Average Sale Price: $200,055, Down 22.21% from $257,162 in 2007.Northwest Tucson Average Sale Price: $247,578 Down from $248,333 last month.
Catalina Foothills Average Sale Price: $365,094 Down from $377,260 last month. Total Tucson Active Listings: 7,627, Down 12.41% from 8,708 in December of 2007.
Northwest Tucson Active Listings: 1,990, Down 111 units from last month.
Catalina Foothills Active Listings: 725, Down 39 units from last month. Total Tucson New Listings: 1,501, Down 5.60% from 1,590 in December of 2007.
Northwest Tucson New Listings: 382, Down 39 units from last month.
Catalina Foothills New Listings: 113, Down 35 units from last month. Some quick conclusions we draw from these Tucson home sales statistics are: Positive Market Indicators this month. New Listings continue their steady decline. Declining Average Sales Price has now become a Positive Factor as buyers are starting to see Value in this market. Days on market slowly creeping lower. Current Interest Rates have been the Lowest in History! Negative Market Indicators this month. This is still a soft market. Buyers are low balling almost every offer. Pending Sales and Total Unit Sales are still low (many buyers are sitting on the fence right now). Still Bottoming. One of the contributing factors is the flood of foreclosures working their way through the system. These discounted sales are dragging all the statistics down and will continue to do so until they are washed out of the system. Any improvement in the economy will certainly help. We're Hoping the New Administration will start working on the economy immediately upon taking office in about a week. The Tucson Market Reports below will give you a detailed look inside the current Tucson Housing Market.
