1650 E. River Road
Tucson Market Statistics: March 2008
The Tucson real estate market, while still in a depressed state, is showing stats that coincide with a market on the rebound. If these trends continue, Tucson’s market place will emerge from its downtrend and get its legs beneath it for the first time since late 2005. What indicates this to me is the fact that pending contracts have been up substantially for the past two months, meaning that more people are getting under contract to purchase a home. Also, active listings continue to keep coming down. Now the supply (active listings) needs to come down a whole lot more before we are in what I would call a balanced market. I would say active listings need to be around 5500 to suggest a balance. However, one important item to note is that the statistics no longer include the far outlying areas of Southern Arizona (places like Tombstone, and Cochise), so the decrease shown from March 2008 over March of 2007 is not 100% accurate. That being said, there are fewer listings on the market. In addition, the new listings prices are also down roughly 10%, meaning fewer people are trying to “test the market.” (That’s what sellers who overprice their home and want their real estate agent to work super hard to find a buyer at their inflated price call it.) Sellers in Tucson right now are realizing it is not a good time to “test. ” In fact, you need to be at or under the comparables to facilitate a sale these days, and any property outside of those comparables is almost impossible to sell. Plus you will need to get your property exposed and marketed in a very effective manner because of the overwhelming number of properties. Buyers have many, many options now, and if your home isn’t pushed to the forefront, even a low price may not be enough to get their attention.
This article, including charts, links to previous reports, and a link to this month’s full MLS report, is continued on Michael’s website. Please click here to continue.