I don’t think the Flagstaff home sales market is falling off a cliff yet, but it may seem that way to some home sellers. The total number of homes sold in Flagstaff in March 2010 was fewer (47) than in March 2009 (61) in spite of a drop of $17,000 in the median price ($282,000 to $265,000). These numbers are for all Flagstaff home types – single-family homes, townhomes, condos and manufactured homes.
Single-family-home sales volume actually compared fairly well with sales of year ago – 39 Flagstaff single-family homes sold in March 2010 compared with 41 in March 2009. And the absorption rate was down from 15.22 months’ supply of homes at the beginning of April 2009 to 12.95 months’ worth of Flagstaff homes at the same time in 2010 – neither were good numbers for sellers, but the trend is on the right track. The median sale price was bad news for would-be Flagstaff home sellers: down nearly 9% year-to-year to a median price of $304,000 and an average of $294,375.
Of the 39 Flagstaff single-family homes sold in March, 14 were bank-owned properties. Of the 505 for sale at the beginning of April, only 25 were bank-owned, but new ones are listed each day.
There were 46 Flagstaff homes offered as short sales at the beginning of April. Twenty single-family-homes were under contract to sell as short sales and awaiting bank approval. Thirteen short sales had been approved and were pending buyers’ inspections and closing, and three short sales were completed in March. The short sale market is picking up as banks continue to be reluctant to foreclose and take homes into inventory. Short sales save the banks money as compared to foreclosing on a home and letting it sit unattended for months.
Flagstaff townhome prices in March were up from February’s median price and down only 5% from March 2009, but only five townhomes sold, leaving a 14-month supply of townhomes on the market. The median price of the five sold was $230,000.
Flagstaff manufactured home sales fared even worse – there were no sales in March and there have been only three this year. There were fifty-five manufactured homes listed for sale at the beginning of April.
The post-tax credit market (starting May 1) will be interesting to watch, especially with home loan rates beginning to rise. Late April and May are traditionally the time of year when many homeowners list homes for sale – I hope that this year they got the message that the listing should have been done in February with a price to be under contract by now. If not, there will be many disappointed sellers this Spring. The real estate market we've seen for the last year is the one we are going to keep seeing for several years to come.
Note: All numbers reported here are based on sales of homes with Flagstaff mailing addresses, whether in the city of Flagstaff or the surrounding rural-suburban areas. The reported data comes from information as reported to the Northern Arizona Association of Realtors® and is deemed reliable for sales reported to the association, but is not guaranteed and does not include all sales in the market area.
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