March 7th, 2010 by Michael Oliver

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Home Values in Tucson have changed dramatically over the past 10 years both towards the upside and then as the market has re-aligned recently. Home values in general within Oro Valley are quite a bit higher then in the greater Tucson area, while areas such as the SW offer lower then average home values. Buyers specifically move-up buyers, retirees, and higher end managers/ business owners seem to be pulled to the higher end feel that Oro Valley has as well as its magnificent mountain views, world class golf, and a small town feel. Other areas of the Tucson metro region also offer amenities and benefits that drive buyers to those specific regions. All of these factors play into home values in Oro Valley as well as the greater Tucson area and are reasons buyers prefer to live within it.

Oro Valley AZ, Oro Valley Real Estate, selling a home, Selling a Tucson Home, Selling an Oro Valley Home

March 3rd, 2010 by Michael Oliver

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In going over the Tucson foreclosure housing market statistics (stats) it was interesting to see which way the foreclosure market is headed. I went through 3 different months last year and took a snapshot of what the market was doing at those points. The furthest I could go back was July of 2009 when the Tucson MLS made an input specifically for REO (also known as bank owned, or a foreclosure) so that those homes specifically could be sorted out and in my case tracked. With that being said these are 3 months over the past 8 to show where the Tucson distress/ bank owned home market segment is moving:

Foreclosure Homes Tucson, foreclosure statistics, Tucson Foreclosures

February 26th, 2010 by Michael Oliver

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New home sales came in at a very low level last month (January) in fact the sale levels were the lowest ever recorded  in over 46 years! New home sales generally are

New Homes Fell Off A Cliff In January Nationally Tucson Is Doing Better Then Most However

weak in January but the stats showed a annual level/ rate (seasonally adjusted) of 309,000 new homes. That rate is almost impossible to believe even an anemic rate comes in at roughly at a 400k new home pace. I think this is a bottoming out of sorts for the new home industry in my experience the Tucson new home market while still in recovery is doing better then most markets.

New Home Statistics, new homes tucson, Tucson new homes

February 12th, 2010 by Michael Oliver

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Home Prices are up in many cities across the nation as reported in an article in The Wall Street Journal today. Home prices in 67 of 151 U.S. metro regions were up on a year over year basis. Cities with the highest year over year increases were:

Cleveland, Ohio: UP 25%

Akron, Ohio: UP 23%

San Fransisco, California: UP 13%

The top three markets still in a major price decline on a year over year basis were also as follows:

Ocala, Florida: DOWN 23%

Las Vegas, Nevada: DOWN 23%

Orlando, Florida: DOWN 20%

Home Prices

January 12th, 2010 by Michael Oliver

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Options ARM’s delinquency rates are escalating quickly as many of their ”teaser rate” time frames have/ are about to expire. In the last of the crazy “boom” mortgage products to come out and bust Options ARM’s extremely attractive in 2006 at the top of the real estate bubble allowed homeowners “options” as to how much they wanted to pay for their mortgage on a monthly basis. These options ranked from a Negative Amortization option allowing a borrower to pay less then even a interest only payment would amount to adding on top of the mortgage every month. Other options would normally include a interest only option (just interest principal never would change…) and a 30 year mortgage payment (the actual payment the borrower was “supposed” to be making, and a 15 year payment for those that wanted to pay off early and/or catch up with their mortgage had they optioned for only interest payments or negative am payments in the past.

options ARM's, Tucson housing market

January 9th, 2010 by Michael Oliver

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The Tucson real estate market is getting healthier month by month. Homes are selling faster and for prices closer to their listed price as sellers have become much more realistic in initial listing price. The high end is still almost nonexistent, as only 6 such homes have sold since the beginning of December. Of those 6 estates, 2 of them were short sales. Of those 2 closed distress home sales, the discounts averaged 18.6% BELOW ASKING PRICE! That’s a steep but realistic discount for distress property in the high end (over $1 million) right now. For buyers who are thinking they want to buy a home in the $1 million plus price range, short sales and foreclosures should be heavily considered. With negotiation, the banks should be very willing to work with you on a great price. The bank’s options are very limited with that segment of the market, which is short on buyer demand right now.

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January 5th, 2010 by Michael Oliver

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The national numbers came out today and pending home sales were down 16% in November after what was thought to be the end of the $8,000 first time buyer tax credit. Pending sales (those under contract but not yet closed) are a great indicator of future sales as home sales generally take 30-60 days to close escrow. Experts had expected a decline but were only expecting a 2% decline over October. The 16% while much larger then expected also ended the consecutive streak of increases in pending home sales which had been going on for 9 months. Pending sales were still up nationwide 15.5% higher in November of 2009 then in 2008 marking the strong comeback national real estate markets have been making.

pending home sales, tucson real estate market pending stats

December 22nd, 2009 by Michael Oliver

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Existing home sales are up again across the nation as existing home sales rose 7.4% in November to a seasonally adjusted rate of 6.54 million units a year pace. As expected sales are way up over last years levels on a percentage the gain was 44% over last November. As most people realize last year from roughly October until the end of February the real estate markets were almost essentially locked up as lending froze, and buyers headed for the sidelines not knowing what was going to happen in the general economy. That being said the next couple months of home sales should show large increases in a year over year basis.

home sales statistics, tucson home sales

December 16th, 2009 by Michael Oliver

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New housing starts a key indicator of the new home industry and the real estate market at large rose last month but not as much as many economist had expected. The Commerce Department said housing starts increased 8.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 574,000 units.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected housing starts to rise to 580,000 units. However, the percentage increase last month was the largest since May, indicating housing remained on a steady recovery path

October’s housing starts were revised downwards to 527,000

new home stats, new homes

December 13th, 2009 by Michael Oliver

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The Tucson market is continuing its rebound from the bust it went through from the end of 2005 until as recent as a couple months ago. Sales are way up, listings are way down, and pending contracts are way up also. From last year to this year, the numbers are impressive. However, most may forget that last year, from November until at least March, the Tucson real estate market (like a lot of real estate markets nationwide) was dead. Very few deals were closing and buyers were scared to make a purchase of any kind due to the economic storms facing the country. So, that being said, the numbers are impressive, but the gains should be weighed against last year’s economic conditions.