Brenda's Tucson Housing Market Report
February 2014
It's Warming up and the weather's Beautiful - Come On Down
Golf in the Morning, Look at houses in the Afternoon:-), now's the time to buy!
Average Days On Market = 59 ~ Sales Price as a % of List Price = 97.14%
January slowed a bit citywide but up here in the Northwest part of town we were slammed. Out almost every day with buyers and several of our listings sold. We are running low on listings so if you're a seller, we need more listings, Right Now!
February is looking pretty solid for us in spite of the bad weather on the East coast. We continue to remain very busy and optimistic. There was an increase of new listings coming on the market in January which gives buyers lots of new options to look at. The weather is great for showing homes and our buyers are really enjoying home shopping in the Sunshine and Warm Temps.
If you're a seller, competition is picking up with lots of new listings so make sure your home shows at it's absolute best. The homes that show best always sell first! If you're a buyer, there's a lot to choose from right now with lots of new listings to see. Contact us and we'd be happy to show you around. We're here to help and we ARE NOT pushy sales people! Our business model says, be helpful, answer all their questions and make sure they have a good time. Today's Buyers are Tomorrow's Friends and Neighbors.
We continue to feel quite strongly that if you're a buyer now is the time to pull the trigger. Interest rates are still historically low but we expect them to be higher by the end of this year. If you're a "fence sitter", now is the time to get off the fence:-) You almost certainly will not see lower prices anytime soon and will probably never see interest rates this low again in generations (if ever).
Inventory is increasing so there's more choices so that's good for buyers. Prices are slowly going up and that's good for sellers. The market is well positioned in a slow steady uptrend which is a good time in the cycle to buy. Whichever Realtor you choose to work with, heed their advice and look closely at the data they provide to you regarding price. They are the local experts and understand prices here. Every local market is different and Tucson's housing market is totally different from your market back home. Remember, you can't become an expert on prices here in a weekend, good Realtors here have been doing this for years and know the market. Just pick a good Realtor and you'll be fine:-)
Spring appears to have arrived (for us anyway). The weather is beautiful, the golf courses are full and the restaurants all have their outdoor patio dining going full blast. Temps are in the 70's now although we're over 80 today and early evening Patio Dining is popular. We'll probably cool off the back half of February (down into the 60's but it's still pretty darn nice! If you're really sick of the snow, hop on a flight (if you can get one) and come on down, we'd love to see you.
We used to live in Alaska, so we understand cold and snow! We moved here a dozen years ago and fell in love with the weather. Yes, it's hot in the summer but we spend some time every day in the pool or hot tub and we dine outside almost every day. You get used to the heat pretty quickly and most people can stay inside during the hottest times of the day. We love it here and can't imagine going back to snow country......... Ever!
Tucson Active Listings: Active listings now stand at 5,477, up from last month. We have a couple months left of our spring selling season so if you want to sell this Spring, you need to list Now or you'll miss the season!
New Listings: There were 2,289 New Listings in January so there's lots of new inventory to look at. We expected New Listings to Increase in January and so they have. This is the best time of the year to see all the new inventory.
Average Sales Price: The January average sales price was $197,262, up 8.16% from $182,378 in January of 2013. Another month of year over year price increases. We remain positive and expect this trend will continue throughout the spring and into the summer.
Days on Market: Pegged at 59 this month. Make good offers, lots of competition out there now. Homes are currently selling on average for 97% of asking price.
If you're looking for a No Hassle-No Pressure realtor to show you around we'd love to help. We specialize in Oro Valley and the Catalina Foothills areas. We're experts on golf properties, retirement communities, vacation homes and investment properties. We sell about a hundred homes a year so we know what we're doing. We love meeting people and helping them find their Dream Home. Contact us and we can help you too:-)
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 January 2014 Report show:
Total Tucson Homes Sold: 854, Decreased 3.39% from January of 2013. Decreased 17.39% from last month.
Total Tucson Homes Under Contract: 1,804, Decreased 25.30% from January of 2013. Increased 19.79% from last month.
Tucson Median Sale Price: $157,250, Up 8.45% from January 2013.
Oro Valley Median Sales Price: $246,000, Down 7% from January 2013.
Catalina Foothills Median Sales Price: $282,000, Down 18% from January 2013.
Total Tucson Active Listings: 5,477, Up 22.83% from 4,459 in January of 2013.
Northwest Tucson Active Listings: 1,613, Up 119 units from last month.
Catalina Foothills Active Listings: 621, Up 58 units from last month.
Total Tucson New Listings: 2,289, Up from 1,897 New Listings in January of 2013.
Northwest Tucson New Listings: 630, Up 268 units from last month.
Catalina Foothills New Listings: 274, Up 128 units from last month.
Some quick conclusions we can draw from these Tucson home sales statistics are:
Positive Market Indicators this month: Sales Volume increased 4.49% over same period year. Average sale price was up 8.16% over last year, Average list price was up 7.43% over last year and Median sales price was up 8.45% year over year.
Negative Market Indicators this month: New listings were up 20.92% over last year and Active listings were up 22.83 percent over last year. Days on market inched up a couple days to 59.
Market Outlook: It was a mixed bag this month with somewhat mixed indicators. We believe that the severe weather throughout large portions of the country may have had an impact on sales here with fewer travelers being able to travel to Tucson. As we head into February we're seeing more of the same bad weather conditions so this dampening effect may well carry over into next month's report. In the long run, this is probably positive for our market. Some of those folks fighting bad winter weather may just decide it's time to head for better weather in Arizona. It's Valentines day here and it's going to be over 80 degrees today! That's a little over normal for here, should be in the low 70s this month but we're loving it.
The Economy continues it's slow steady improvement although there are some cracks appearing. Politics and Massive government intervention are unsettling to the public. The economy is not improving as quickly as it should and most blame Washington. It's time to get the children out of the policy making positions and get some Adults (with some common sense) running the show. Regardless, we still believe that we will get past all the turmoil and that the economy will continue to slowly improve in spite of all the obstacles we currently face. 2015 could show a significant improvement in public confidence if the new congress can begin making any headway on the serious financial issues facing our country.
The Tucson Market Reports below will give you a detailed look inside the current Tucson Housing Market.