Flagstaff Townhome Sales Report
At the beginning of May, there were 90 Flagstaff townhomes for sale. That may not sound like many to big-city folks, but here in Flagstaff, where only three townhomes sold in April, it’s 30-months supply of this type of home. The reasons for this huge inventory of townhomes are all the same ones you hear about the housing market in general, but I believe there are two additional factors at work in the Flagstaff townhome market.
First, Flagstaff townhomes in recent years have been a lower-cost alternative to single-family homes for home buyers entering the market. But, Flagstaff single-family home prices have fallen. With lower SFR prices and low interest rates, the number of people forced to consider townhomes when they would really prefer a single-family home is down.
Second, Flagstaff townhomes have long been the preferred alternative for second-home owners. Lockup the townhome and leave it during the week and let the homeowners association worry about the landscaping and other exterior maintenance. Now, there are very few second homeowners. Most of them are buying condos close to campus for their NAU students – always a segment of the second home market but not the dominant one until now.
With so few sales in April, it’s almost not worthwhile to mention the median townhome sales price, but here it is: The one in the middle of the three sold for $211,000. The average price of the three sold was $250,333. In April 2008, the median townhome sale price was $255,000 and the average was $280,414. Seven townhomes sold that month and we thought that was low!
As I write this on May 17, there are fifteen Flagstaff condos under contract for sale, so perhaps we’ll have a sudden uptick in sales to report for May. If that’s the case, it will be interesting to see what the closing prices are.
So far, my educated guess is that the short-sale and foreclosure market has not hit townhomes quite as hard as single-family residences because their original purchase in many cases was discretionary and because, even in the go-go mortgage market, second homes usually required a larger equity stake.
Flagstaff Condo Sales Report
Six Flagstaff condominiums sold in April according to the Northern Arizona Multiple-Listing-Service. Although we think all sales from the three large apartment conversions are reported on the MLS, we’re not sure all the available condos are listed. Still 70 were actively for sale on MLS as of the beginning of May. The median sales price was $148,425 and the average was $144,163. There are 17 condos under contract for sale as I write this in mid-May.
For the April 2009 Flagstaff real estate market report related to single-family homes, click here. | 
-->
Email to a Friend
