Tucson MLS Statistics for October 2009
November 9, 2009
Post Tags: tucson-housing-market-October-2009 , tucson-mls-statistics-October-2009 , Tucson-real-estate-October-2009
The stats are out for October and the closed transactions for the month were strong. I’ve asked around about the impact of the First Time home buyer tax credit, but no one tracks this data. Not the MLS and not our brokerage. From our experience we know of no one using this tax credit who is a “true” first time home buyer.
I think the reduced inventory, reduced sale price and increased confidence in the economy is driving more buyers into the Tucson market. Last year during the fall snowbird buying season the economy was in such turmoil and talk of a Great Depression loomed everywhere. The end result everyone sat on large purchases and expenditures. The running joke was “Since my 401K is now a 101K I can’t afford to buy a home right now even if I wanted to.”
But a year down the road and the outlook isn’t quite as bleak. These sales were all recorded before the extended and expanded Tax Credit.
Month over Month
September to October 2009
The number of active listings jumped up by a couple hundred in October. This is a bit of a surprise but even more so when considered against new listings for October 2008. There were more homes put on the market this October than last. However, The closed transactions were much healthier than last year with a recorded 59 more this year than last.
But that’s not the whole story. Because those transactions are continuing to come in. There were 1021 for the report, but 1046 are currently in the system. This means the actual number increased over September by 84 not 59. These additional transactions made the difference between 6 months inventory and just under 6 months inventory. A significant difference? No, but why do they post gas as $2.29.999 cents instead of $.230, get the point.
Active and New listings have increased. This to in rather normal due to the number of people wanting to have their homes on the market for the snowbirds coming to Tucson to look for a new winter (second) home. And there are those looking to make this their permanent home soon.
Year over Year
Compared to October 08 it is a mixed bag of information. For Buyers it is pretty much all Good. For sellers, it isn’t as bad as it might seem.
For Buyers, lower prices, but fewer homes to chose from. Better interest rates than last year and for first time home buyers up to $8,000 tax credit. For those buying a primary residence up to $6,500 tax credit. Active listing increased so you have more to choice. But be aware, these figures for Average and Median sale price includes a whopping 42% of Short Sale and REO transactions. Remove these transactions from the data and the Average and Median prices jump up considerably. Don’t expect to buy a move in ready home in these price ranges.
For Sellers, unless you are in a neighborhood or subdivision with massive Short sale and REO properties you are facing a more realistic pricing situation now than in the past. Your home never was “worth” what it would have sold for in the past 3 years. Those were inflated figures, And the home owners that borrowed against that false equity are the ones in Short Sale and REO now. Reality is a tough pill to swallow, but if you have owned your home from more than 5 years you should still be able to turn a profit on the sale of your home.
Moving up you will find prices more affordable and probably with a lower interest rate than you were paying before. Downsizing, you will have some money to put in the bank, because you can buy more home for less now than you could in the past few years.
Sellers are usually buyers also. Don’t get greedy on the sell side and loose sight of the opportunities you now have on the buy side. Sometimes we can’t let go of those false high prices of a few years ago. Do yourself a favor, let go. Need help doing so, get an appraisal yourself. It will give you a sense of where your home should be priced in today’s market and provide a basis to potential buyers for your asking price.
For the complete October Statistics report you can find it in the sidebar under Documents. It is PDF and you can download and save a copy.
If you don’t want to look for it in the sidebar. Well, here you go: Tucson MLS Statistics Report October 2009
November 10th, 2009 at 12:17 am
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