October Residential Sales Statistics

The Tucson Association of Realtors has released the Residential Sales Statistics for October.

We are seeing a return to a normal market. Although average sale price has increased 9.43% in the past year to $192,433, prices are stabilizing. Typically in Tucson, number of sales and sale prices decline from November through January. The hectic spring buying season will resume in February.

Number of active listings has increased 9.67% from September to 5,173 in October. Surprisingly, the number of sales increased 7.52% from September to 1,130 in October. Dividing 5,173 listings by 1,130 sales, we have a 4.58 month inventory of listings. This higher than last spring, but still an indication of a strong seller's market.

I'm glad to see the number of distressed sales is now way below 50% of the total sales. A few years ago, short sales and foreclosures were over 60% of the sales. It's also encouraging that only 8% of the sales in October were short sales, and 17% of the sales were properties that had been foreclosed. As prices rise, fewer sellers are underwater, so the need for short sales is decreasing.

Sunset on the Tucson Mountains. And the Catalinas and Rincons, Too.

David Fitzsimmons is right, as usual. Any survey of the best sunsets that doesn't have Tucson at the top of the list is not a valid survey.

More than half the time, the sunset in Tucson is most stunning to the North or even to the East. Can you do that, Florida?

The ultimate sunset is a combination of pastel-colored air, fanciful clouds, light-reflecting mountains and gorgeous landscape. Not, as Monty Python would have it, "some farcical aquatic ceremony."