INSIDE TUCSON BUSINESS:  Mon., Aug. 17, 2009

Home sales set ‘09 record

The Tucson Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service reports July home sales set a record for the year; 1,184 units sold. Typically, July sales are down compared to June but not this year, with July sales up 4% from the June total of 1,139.  In fact, this is only the second time in the last decade that July sales topped June sales in a year. The only other year was 2002.  Year-over-year, the July sales number is even more impressive; up 23% from the 959 units sold in 2008.

Another positive is that the median sales price in July was $167,830, up almost 2% from June’s median of $165,000. But there’s still a long way to go for prices to recover. A year ago, the median price was $199,900.

There are indications the monthly increases in number of homes sold is about to come to an end. Pending contracts for July totaled 1,227, down more than 14% from 1,432 pending contracts in June. But it’s typical for home sales to start to slow in August, which has seen increased sales over July only three times in the last 13 years.

Active and new listings were both down about 3%, a continuing indication that the inventory of homes on the market are slowly being cleared out.