Well we had another downward month but a surprise that 140 more homes sold than the month before. Because of the Foreclosures and Short Sale properties that are in escrow it is very difficult to GUESS how many of those will close in which month. A Short Sale that I am working on will be 4.5 months in the process to get it closed. It will be in the January Solds. With that thought I pulled up some stats on Foreclosures and Short Sales that I was fairly sure, that is what they were, and here is what I found for Three Areas in Tucson. This is just a sample of the Tucson area using three areas. These are Solds for December.
Central 89 Solds 25 were lender owned 5 were short sale 34%
South 74 Solds 39 were lender owned 12 were short sale 69%
East 64 Solds 17 were lender owned 4 were short sale 33%
Of the 227 units sold 45 % or greater were Lender owned(foreclosure) and Short Sales. These properties take some time to close and causes the sold units to fluctuate. The number is probably close to the total for Tucson. The Northwest and Southwest areas might cause it to go up some more, as they have higher concentration of homes also.
Here is the Chart for December.
| July 2008 |
August 2008 |
September 2008 |
October 2008 |
November 2008 |
December 2008 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average Sales Price |
$254,854
|
$238,504
|
$217,397
|
$226,435
|
$215,913
|
$200,055
|
| Median Sales Price |
$199,900
|
$185,000
|
$180,500
|
$180,500
|
$178,000
|
$167,900
|
| Total Units Sold |
945
|
903
|
934
|
823
|
635
|
775
|
| Active Listings |
7876
|
7763
|
7858
|
7988
|
7996
|
7627
|
| Days On Market |
78
|
77
|
82
|
78
|
76
|
75
|
| Listings Under Contract |
960
|
878
|
836
|
755
|
677
|
612
|
Well next Tuesday the world starts to get better with our new President. NOT!!! But I am really hoping they get things started that gets our economy back on track. It will take some time for this to happen but if we can just bring the housing foreclosures to a slower pace it will help stabilize the market. Loans are available and we are approaching 5% again. The time is now for many people to buy. Prices are down to 2004 levels and interest rates are the lowest since I have been in the business. If you have a good job, good credit and some money for down and closing costs I would suggest you start the process. You need to talk to a lender as you will need the Loan Status Report from the lender to go with your contract. Think about it soon.
If I can help with your purchase or need of a good lender call me at 240-7130. I am easy to work with and will help you with any questions and guide you through the purchase process.
It seems your market is selling at about a 10 month supply of inventory. I suppose some areas are worse. I think we need more money for mortgages.
If the fed keeps putting money into new mortgage paper with Fannies and Freddie, the money will eventually hit the market. So far it is only hitting in the conforming mortgages. I wrote about 10 weeks ago for the fed to borrow on long term treasury’s and put the money directly into new mortgages at low rates to get the market going. I also said they should provide investor financing to get the foreclosed homes bought and rented. Investor will bring a lot of capital to the market. All buyers must qualify under normal standards.
My investigation also finds the heavily hit markets are reacting to the lower prices and lower rates and volume is picking up nicely.
The banks can not get the money directly, they won’t lend or at least not at the rate and quantity we need. When a purchaser gets a mortgage, buys a property, the old mortgage gets paid off to the bank. The bank receives the money and the mortgage is retired. If the bank’s reserves we short to retire the mortgage that is another issue for their solvency.