Brenda's Tucson Housing Market Report
April 2013

First Quarter Finished Strong In Tucson

We Continue to Need More Listings - Everything is Selling - Call Me!

Average Days On Market = 59 ~ Sales Price as a % of List Price = 96.91%

March was extremely strong finishing up with total unit sales up almost 40% over February and average prices up 14% over same period last year. All our listings are getting lots of showings and are selling at a good steady clip. We need more listings as we have buyers waiting in the wings but the lack of inventory is holding some of them back.

While there remains some genuine doubt about the economy and no faith whatsoever in Washington politics, the real estate market nationwide continues to improve. Most markets hit especially hard in the recession are now bouncing back strongly and Arizona is one of those.

The talking heads on TV are now starting to talk about increasing interest rates coming sooner rather than later, mostly due to the pending unwinding of Qe3 by the Federal Reserve. No matter how they do unwind that, (it will probably be slowly) it will definitely cause in increase in interest rates across the board. As we've been saying for several months now, watch for higher mortgage rates in the 3rd and 4th quarters of this year.

Tucson continues to have lower than normal amounts of housing inventory (check out the Heat Map below). Lower inventory and stiff competition are creating a "Sellers Market" over most of the Tucson Metropolitan area. If you're a buyer, Make good offers or you'll be out of luck.

Summer's right around the corner and we can't wait. We love the warm weather and jumping in the pool every day. Lots of fantastic weather heading our way for the next several months! Expect fantastic golfing weather for the rest of April & May before it starts to get hot in June.

Tucson Active Listings: Active listings now stand at 4,210 Down 115 units from last month and about 1% less than at this time last year. Active listings should continue to drift lower over the next few months as we head into summer.

New Listings: There were 1,931 New Listings in March, an Increase of 334 units from February which surprised us a little bit as we expected this indicator to be flat or slightly lower.

Average Sales Price: The March average sales price was $191,881, up 14.11% from $168,153 in March of 2012. Another month of year over year price increases. We expect this trend will continue well into 2013.

Days on Market: Now sits at 59. This time last year it took an average of 73 days to sell a listing here. There are no killer deals here anymore, make good offers, homes are currently selling on average for 96.91% of asking price.

Feel free to contact us with your questions. We're easy to talk to and we can answer any questions you might have about current market conditions, interest rates or where home prices are headed. If you're interested in talking about listing your home we'd be happy to provide our recommendations on how best to proceed.

Key prior month statistics from the Tucson Association of Realtor’s March 2013 Report show:

Total Tucson Home Sales Units: 1329, Decreased 4.18% from March of 2012. Increased 39.75% from last month.

Total Tucson Homes Under Contract: 2,712, Decreased 2.34% from March of 2012. Increased 1.19% from last month.

Tucson Median Sale Price: $150,050 Up 12.9% from March 2012.
Oro Valley Median Sales Price: $241,500 Up 3% from March 2012.
Catalina Foothills Median Sales Price: $298,500 Up 8% from March 2012.

Total Tucson Active Listings: 4,210 Up 1% from 4,168 in March of 2012.
Northwest Tucson Active Listings: 1,177 Down 22 units from last month.
Catalina Foothills Active Listings: 512, Down 14 units from last month.

Total Tucson New Listings: 1,931, Down from 1971 in March of 2012.
Northwest Tucson New Listings: 504, Up 77 units from last month.
Catalina Foothills New Listings: 204, Up 26 from last month.

Some quick conclusions we can draw from these Tucson home sales statistics are:

Positive Market Indicators this month: Average Sales Prices are up year over year & month over month, Median Sales Price up year over year & month over month, Total sales volume is up year over year & month over month and Units Under Contract are Up month over month. Days on Market remain low at 59. Inventory levels remain well below normal and dropped again this month, and interest rates remain in the basement.

Negative Market Indicators this month: National economic outlook is confusing at best, it's been a good 1st quarter but looks like a soft spot coming in the next few months as all the sequester stuff kicks in. Hard to call but 2nd quarter almost certainly not be as strong as the 1st quarter was. Regardless of the national economy, our housing market here in Tucson continues to steadily improve and we expect that trend to continue throughout the year.

Market Outlook: No Change, We had a strong 1st quarter and continue to expect a good solid year, although we do expect a slowing of the market as we head into summer. Fall continues to look good.

Inventory remains tight: Inventory sits at 4,210 active listings. Here's the April Heat Map.

Interest rates remain at historic lows although getting a loan has become a real hassle and that's not going to change any time soon. Be Cautious of FHA Loans now, new rules went into effect April 1 which are Not Good for buyers. Be sure to ask both your agent and your lender to explain the new FHA rules regarding fees and mortgage insurance Prior to committing to any FHA loan.

The Tucson Market Reports below will give you a detailed look inside the current Tucson Housing Market.

Questions about current Tucson Housing Market Conditions?
Email Brenda or call her Today at 520-918-5968
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