April Residential Sales Statistics

The Tucson Association of Realtors has released the Residential Sales Statistics for April. The average sale price was $193,351, down 5.3% from the previous month and down 23.8% since April 2008. Median sale price was $164,000, down 0.61% since March and down 15.9% since last year. However, except for a blip upward in February, the median sale price has been stable since the first of the year.

882 units sold, which is down 1.12% since March and down 13.1% since last year. The good news is active listings continues to decline, reaching 6,890 in April, which was down 7.08% from March and 21.78% since last year.

The reduction in number of houses for sale means we continue to get closer to a balance market, which is a six month supply of listings. With 6,890 active listings and 882 sales in April, we now have a 6,890/882 = 7.81 month inventory.

Getting a jumbo mortgage (over $417,000) usually requires 30% down payment and involves a 2% jump in the interest rate above the current 5% rate offered on conforming loans. So the luxury market will suffer until lending restrictions are loosened. Only seven properties priced over $750,000 sold last month. Similar to last month, 87% of the sales were of properties priced under $300,000.