2008 Tucson Foothills home sales, so far

Here are the latest sales figures for single family homes SOLD in
the Tucson Foothills for the period of
January/February 2008 vs January/February 2007 -
thru the Tucson Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service.

Price	Jan-Feb 07	Jan-Feb 08	% +/-
$0 - $250K	3	1	- 66%
$250 - $500K	33	31	- 6%
$500 - $750K	22	13	- 41%
$750- $1.0mil	11	14	+27%
$1.0- $1.5mil	5	5	0
$1.5- $2.0mil	3	2	- 33%
$2.0 & UP	1	4	+300%
Total Sold	78	70	- 10
Avg List $$	$672,950	$808,247	+20.%
Avg Sold $$	$645,469	$752,673	+16
Median List $$	$542,000	$552,000	+1.84%
Median Sold $	$520,000	$530,000	+1.92
$$ Value of Sold Homes	$50,346,550	$52,687,076	+4.64%

With most of the drop in sales occurring at the low to average price range (for the foothills) -the $500 to $750K price range accounting for the bulk of it - the # of homes sold is down 10% overall, while sales at the high-end are holding their own.

As to the big jump in the average list and average sold price-
some of that can be attributed to the four multi-million dollar homes that sold this year.
With three of those four selling at right around $3,000,000, the averages get pushed up pretty quickly, particularly when we're dealing with a short period of time and relatively few sales overall.
And yet the median sold price, less effected by a few high-end sales, is also up.

So while the high-end seems to be holding the reins, there is some contradictory evidence here. Sales are down 10% - inventory is UP about 20% from last year - yet the average and median sold prices are (stubbornly) up, and the total dollar value of the homes sold is up almost 5%, despite 10% fewer sales. And to complicate an already mixed review, there are 88 homes currently under contract in the Foothills today.
Stay Tuned.

UPDATE - 3/4/08
A reader of this post commented,
"Thanks John! Looks like the Foothills is holding up pretty well, thanks to sales of expensive homes".
OK, with those high-end sales, that's a fair conclusion to come to.
And it's true, but only to some extent.
So while I raised the issue in my post, "selling at right around $3,000,000, the averages get pushed up pretty quickly", maybe I should have taken a closer look at what that means in dollars & cents.

So to make the average and median sale price comparison with last year more even-steven, I've eliminated the 2 highest priced sales from this year - 2 that sold for about $3.0 mil each. That leaves 9 homes that sold for over $1,000,000 in both 07 & 08.

Doing that adjusts the average list price to $732,019, the average sold to $685,839 and the median list and sold prices to $549,950 & $525,000.
Still holding up very well vs. last year.

And this begs the question, if those $3,000,000 homes had sold last year, rather than this year, would anyone stand still for me adjusting the sales figures to make things more
even-steven.

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to search for and learn more about Tucson Foothills Homes 

Comments

[Peter]

Thanks John!

Looks like the Foothills is holding up pretty well, thanks to sales of expensive homes.

[Peter]

John

My comment was about the total $$ value of sold homes and how this had held up well.

This value drives the real estate industry (via commissions) and I have been concerned about real estate professionals in Tucson. Seems like in the Foothills at least the total $$ sold has held up. Of course if we remove 3 x $3 million its not so good, so hopefully expensive homes will continue their solid pace.

[John Schneider]

Thanks Peter,
We appreciate your concern,
Coming off two years of declining sales and big increases in the number of agents, the pieces of the pie are shrinking.