July Residential Sales Statistics

The Tucson Association of Realtors has published the residential sales statistics for July. The news remains encouraging for sellers, and may motivate some buyers to get off the fence.

Average sale price was $181,978, which is a 4.11% increase in only one month, and a 5.1% increase from a year ago. Even more shocking, the average sale price was 21% higher than when it hit bottom in September 2011. Average sale price is now slightly higher than it was in January 2004, just before the bubble started to inflate. Historically, prices peak in July, and if past trends are any indication of future performance, prices will now go into a slide until next February. Probably nothing dramatic or destabilizing, just the normal annual cycle.

The median sale price, the price at which half the sales were higher and half were lower, remained steady at $140,000 for the third month in a row.

Number of units sold (demand) typically peaks in June, and this year was no different. With 1,137 units sold in July, we saw a decrease of 10.4% from June, but demand was still 1.16% higher than a year ago.

Active listings (supply) was virtually the same in July (3,477) compared to June (3,474), but was down 36% from last July. The limited choice of houses for sale has created bidding wars that will continue to prop up sale prices in the under $150,000 market.

We now have a three month supply of listings. This time last year, we had a 4.81 month supply.

Foreclosures accounted for 26% of the sales in July, and 17% of the sales were short sales.

Odyssey Storytelling

This very cool group just received a rave review from the Tucson Weekly.

I am especially proud that one of the producers of the event is my client Adam Hostetter.

Male Quailathon

Seven male and one female Gambel's Quail warm up for a little-known Olympic event: Rhythmic Drinking.

I had to wonder how this one female (second from right) got on the team. Is she these guys' sister? Mother? Wife?

That's a Mourning Dove waiting for his tardy team mates in the lower bowl. He ended up forfeiting because Team Dove was a no show.

At Our Border

Tucson and the State of Arizona have been in the news in recent years for reasons that give the world an inaccurate impression of us. Those of us who live here, especially in Southern Arizona, know that most people are kind and accepting. We are dismayed by the hatred, violence and bigotry that grab the headlines.

I recently had the honor of helping an amazing group of people, Casa Mariposa, buy a home where they will provide hospitality to people who have been released from detention. I was introduced to this group by one of my fabulous clients, Hannah Hafter. You can see her in this PBS video at 13:00.

While the focus of the video is the alleged abuses of immigrants, the bright spot is the generous people who are helping people who weren't lucky enough to be born on this side of the border.

Another Out-of-State Client Planning to Retire Here in Paradise

You're easily the best real estate agent I've ever worked with, so I know people like you aren't easy to find (not just saying that; it's very true).

-Jane Marcellus, PhD

Horny Toad

I walked up Tumamoc Hill this morning and was rewarded with the sighting of this Desert Horned Lizard. At least I think that's his species. Check out that spiky collar! I think he'd be a scratchy snack for a coyote or bobcat.

He was very patient and brave, allowing me to inch closer and closer until my camera was less than a foot from him. I sat down, and we probably would have stared at each other all morning, but I offered him some of my water. That was too much interaction for him, and he trundled away.

I have been told that Tumamoc means Horny Toad in Tohono O'odham.

Every day I find another reason to be grateful that I live in Tucson.

M*A*S*H Bash at Pima Air and Space Museum

Last night, my fabulous company, Tierra Antigua Realty, had our annual agent appreciation party at the Pima Air and Space Museum. The theme was M*A*S*H. Here you see Hawkeye (Steve) and Klinger (our sales manager Mr. Kelly Hand) with Colonel Lil Rayburn, Head Nurse of the Eighth Army (me), in a little number she picked up while on R&R in Tokyo.

This is a Super Guppy Cargo Transport, used from 1965 to 1995. I thought it was a blimp.

The museum volunteers took us on a tram tour of the planes; then we walked around on our own.

I can't explain this. Each plane has a sign in front of it with a QR code. I could have learned a lot more if the QR code reader on my phone had cooperated.

The usual astounding Tucson sunset.

Update, August 28, 2012. I could see that Super Guppy Cargo Transport from the top of Tumamoc Hill at dawn a few days ago. It looked like a shiny salmon-colored whale, beached in the Sonoran Desert, waiting for the ocean to return. It's just a matter of Time.