tucson mls

Tucson MLS 24-Hour Change Statistics for 2/26/2009

New Listings	99
Back on Market	15
Price Increases	11
Price Reductions	117
Contingents	38
Pendings	42
Solds	59
Expireds	19
Inactives	42

tucson mls

Tucson Downtown Arena Proposed Again – 3rd Time a Charm?

This article about the Stockton Arena is from yesterday’s AZ Daily Star. I have been thinking about it since then and hadn’t posted because I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.  Tucson has been through this downtown arena talk twice before already and it’s become a running joke among Tucsonans, along with Rio Nuevo. Check out the following timeline:

DOWNTOWN ARENA TIMELINE

• OCTOBER 2003: Although not part of the Rio Nuevo ballot measure approved by voters, talk begins about building a new arena Downtown.
• JANUARY 2004: The City Council votes 4-3 to solicit proposals from developers for a new arena.
• AUGUST 2004: The city selects an arena development team led by Texas-based Garfield Traub.
• MARCH 2007: Downtown landowner Allan Norville unveils plans to build a Downtown arena and gem-show exhibit hall. Two days later, the city releases plans for a new arena shaped like a desert tortoise shell.
• APRIL 2007: The City Council unexpectedly approves the $130 million tortoise-shell arena with no public notice or input.
• APRIL 2008: A public-records request by the Arizona Daily Star showed costs for the tortoise arena had ballooned to $196 million.
• MAY 2008: The City Council kills the tortoise-shell arena because of the cost. It voted to negotiate with Norville to build a smaller arena on his land, but the deal is never finalized.
• FEBRUARY 2009: With no money to buy Norville’s land, the city moves the arena to a third site and is set to choose the arena’s architect and operator.

Here are the latest glamour shots courtesy of the Daily Star:

So while I love the pictures, I’ll hold my sincere excitement until we see a little more progress (actually breaking ground would satisfy me).

Here are your stats for today:

New Listings	134
Back on Market	18
Price Increases	10
Price Reductions	147
Contingents	52
Pendings	25
Solds	48
Expireds	24
Inactives	40

tucson mls

Tucson MLS 24-Hour Change Statistics for 2/24/2009

With this record setting Tucson weather we’re having I thought it would be prudent to provide the following graphic in case you or someone you know experiences heat stroke (or just a long day at work). I feel like doing this right now!

New Listings	145
Back on Market	38
Price Increases	7
Price Reductions	167
Contingents	57
Pendings	23
Solds	49
Expireds	19
Inactives	51

tucson mls

Phoenix Housing Prices Lower Than Tucson

Yep you read that headline right, check out this article from today’s Arizona Daily Star.

Meanwhile, in Tucson, the median price of a resale home in January was $160,000, said John L. Strobeck, who tracks real estate data for Southern Arizona.

“I sort of look at Phoenix as being like Tucson, but on steroids,” Strobeck said. “They have higher and lower swings.”Most in the housing and real estate business described the pricing flip as an anomaly that eventually will adjust back to normal as the market stabilizes. But at least one analyst wondered if the recent steep decline in prices for the Phoenix market spells trouble for home prices in Tucson.

Both markets have seen sharp declines in prices, but Maricopa County’s market has plunged much further because there was far more speculative development and there have been far more foreclosures.

“The market was hot in the Phoenix, Maricopa County, Pinal County area much sooner and longer than it was in Tucson,” said Jay Butler, director of realty studies at ASU. “Tucson was just beginning to get into the hypermarket when this whole thing started to collapse.”

….

Strobeck, who compiles and analyzes Southern Arizona housing data as owner of Bright Future Business Consultants, also sees no connection between what is happening in Phoenix and in Tucson.”I don’t think Tucson follows Phoenix in much of any way at all. They are two different markets,” he said.

“I think once we get through all this, we will go back to ‘normality.’ And I think probably just because of the fact that Phoenix’s population is greater — they have more churn of companies and better job creation than we do in Tucson — we will eventually go back to where (pricing) was.”

I’ve done some business with John Strobeck and respect his analyses of market conditions. His comparison of Phoenix being like Tucson on steroids is spot on (in my opinion) especially considering that foreclosures are already beginning to thin out in the Tucson market.

It will be interesting to see just how far housing prices fall in Phoenix especially as it appears that Las Vegas is still feeling the after-effects of the housing boom. Median prices there dropped 48% year-over-year and the number of foreclosures continues to rise.

If Phoenix is Tucson on steroids, then maybe Las Vegas is Phoenix on steroids? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Tucson MLS 24-Hour Change Statistics

New Listings	29
Back on Market	5
Price Increases	2
Price Reductions	35
Contingents	15
Pendings	13
Solds	11
Expireds	46
Inactives	15

tucson mls

Tucson MLS 24-Hour Change Statistics for 2/21/2009

New Listings	38
Back on Market	6
Price Increases	4
Price Reductions	58
Contingents	20
Pendings	12
Solds	11
Expireds	46
Inactives	12

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