Several of the nations largest homebuilders, including D.R. Horton & Lennar recently have publicly stated an increase in sales orders of new construction homes nationally. Largely fueled by the improving affordability of homes in contrast to renting, this spurred D.R. Horton to beat Wall Street estimates of its profits for the 1st quarter. Homebuilder sentiment across the board has been improving with most being cautiously optimistic about an impending gradual improvement. Locally the lack of finished lots in the inventory for homebuilders should cause builders to begin buying up the remaining land inventory in anticipation of the rebound. Driven by sales volume, many of these national builders will still see relatively slim profit margins, but will bank on improving demand.
|
|||||
|
The recently published real estate market statistics for December 2011 are quite enlightening and show some real signs of positive traction looking into the future. Perhaps the most interesting of all the stats is that there were only 4,911 Active Listings at the end of the month. With sales hovering around 1,000 homes per month recently that puts our inventory at ONLY a 5 month supply. Typically anything under a 6 month inventory is thought of as a seller’s market. The average sales price increased slightly from the previous month nudging up by 1.92%. These values still remain well below a year ago, but any positive movement is encouraging and with the inventory shrinking by almost 30% from a year ago it’s quite likely we could see some upward pressure on prices. The general economy’s ongoing recover, albeit slow, will continue to encourage buyers back into the market. Another good statistic is the sales price of homes in relation to the listed price. The average sale price to list price ratio was 94.42%, which means there isn’t a whole lot of discounting happening during negotiations of the desirable properties which are selling. Is the bottom finally here? It’s very likely but not assured. However, even if this isn’t the absolute bottom it seems very unlikely that anyone making a purchase today will get hurt too much on price if they intend to hold the property for a number of years, particularly with the near record low interest rates. Most of the “experts” are forecasting 2012 as a year that the hardest hit areas will begin to rebound and the December statistics seem to indicate that might well be the case. Interest rates continue to stay EXTREMELY low! At the end of this past week rates for 30-year fixed rate mortgage were 3.99% with an average of 0.7 points according to Freddie Mac. By comparison last year at this time the interest rate on the same product was a still very attractive 4.61%. Even lower rates are achieved with a 15-year fixed rate mortgage, averaging this last week 3.27% with 0.8 points. Hopefully rates continue to stay low in the near future, but eventually these record setting rates will have to climb and make purchasing a home with financing more expensive. The latest housing report published by Bright Futures Business Consultants shows a mixed bag of pricing trends. The median price for a new home in Tucson reached $214,743, which is the highest point of the year. However, the prices of resale homes and foreclosures sank to new lows with the median price falling to $91,700. Looking at the brighter side of this equation it means that the current lowered inventory should continue to decrease as distressed properties are moved at a fairly rapid pace. Ultimately a good majority of these houses must be moved through before any semblance of price increases can take hold for the long term. Foreclosures and short sales will continue to be around for some time to come, but squelching the masses of them will begin to bring stability.
47 Scott
Please schedule a free consultation with Team Woodall at any time if you’d like to learn about this and the other benefits we offer when listing a property for sale. Team Woodall would like to extend its congratulations to The Stone Canyon Club’s Mike Russell for his second place finish at the Section Qualifying for the PGA Professional National Championship in Flagstaff this past week. Tying for first place at the end of regulation, Mike and two other professionals were vying for the title in a playoff, but even though Mike came up short to the winner’s birdie on the first hole, he’s qualified for the next National event. This represents multiple times that Mike has qualified for the national level of the Professional National Championship (formerly called the Club Professional Championship) which includes the best club professionals around the country. The top finishers of this event even qualify for the PGA Championship alongside the best PGA Tour players in the world. It’s quite an accomplishment, which follows on the heels of his successful defense of the Southern Chapter Championship last month. One of the routine maintenance items every homeowner should do is a visual inspection of the home exterior. Check for any signs of unusual wear, water leaks, and of course of primary concern in Arizona are termites. Subterranean termites will most commonly be visible on the concrete stem at the base of the home and will look like black or dark brown lines. These “mud tubes” are used as travel ways for the termites. New construction homes will nearly always have an initial five-year warranty, so any activity can be treated for free. After this period expires most exterminating companies will offer a renewal term or an annual contract. Alternately, thorough visual inspections on a routine basis will advise you of any activity and a service call can be made on an as needed basis. Thankfully most damage from termites happens over time and isn’t an emergency issue. However, left untreated the effects of termites can be devastating to a home. A few key tips to help reduce the chances of having termites is to keep positive drainage away from the home’s foundation at all times. Be sure that standing water doesn’t collect against the house as this is a breeding ground for termites. Another good idea is to keep all vegetation away from the home’s exterior too. For newly built homes with an intact termite barrier under warranty do not disturb the soil within three feet of the foundation as this can disrupt the barrier and likely void any warranty. Even just these few tips will help reduce the chances of having termites, but don’t forget to perform monthly visual inspections of the exterior to double check. It’s also important to keep an eye out inside the home as subterranean termites can get in through plumbing under a slab or flying termites into an attic space. Typically in Arizona it’s not if a home has had termites, but when and was it treated. In two weeks the 7th Annual Chile Festival is coming to the Oro Valley Farmers’ Market. This event takes place from 8am to noon on Saturday, September 17th. Each Saturday the Oro Valley Farmers’ Market takes place at the Oro Valley Town Hall located at 11000 La Canada (La Canada & Naranja). The Chile Festival features your pick of freshly roasted green chiles, chile spices, zesty tamales & salsas, decorative red chile strings, and many chile specialties. You can find more information about the Farmers’ Market by visiting http://www.farmersmarkettucson.com or finding it on Facebook. Another nice benefit of attending the Farmers’ Market is the scissor and knife sharpening offered each 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month.
Hot water heaters are fairly expensive to replace and one way to avoid having a malfunction is to annually perform the simple maintenance task of draining the tank. This will allow any sediment (dirt or minerals from the water itself) which builds up over time to get flushed from the tank. The procedure normally requires just a hose and will only take about half an hour to complete. Everyone gets busy with life, but this easy task can prevent corrosion and save you a costly repair bill. For a quick tutorial on performing this annual maintenance, simple click on this link: http://instructables.com/id/Water-Heater-Maintenance |
|
||||
  |
|||||
Connect With Us!