Tucson Foothills Homes Sales, January thru August

It's time to check the scorecard and see how home sales in the Tucson Foothills are doing.
Here's a comparison of single family homes SOLD in the Tucson Foothills for the period of January - August 2006 vs.
January - August 2007. This is for homes SOLD through the Tucson Association of Realtors MLS. Keep in mind that this is a niche market, and that during this period in 2007, there was an average of just 320 homes for sale priced from $500,000 & UP in the Tucson Foothills.

Price Range	Jan-Aug 06 # Homes Sold	Jan-Aug 07 # Homes Sold	+/- %
$500 - $750K	161	152	-5%
$750 - 1mil	74	60	-19
$1mil - $1.5mil	63	42	-33
$1.5 - $2.0mil	14	16	+14
$2.0mil & UP	15	9	-40
Total Homes SOLD	327	279	-14
*Avg List Price	$732,907	$712,188	-2.8
Avg SOLD Price	$705,547	$681,479	-3.4
Median List Price	$579,250	$567,000	-2.1
Median SOLD Price	$570,000	$545,000	-4.3
$$ Value of Homes SOLD	$378,172,949	$314,161,730	-16

*The Avg. & Median List and Sold prices, and the Total $$ Value figures, include ALL homes SOLD in ALL price ranges in the Tucson Foothills - not just those from $500K & UP.
Overall sales have slipped a bit from last months tally,
-14% vs -13% and the $500,000 to $750,000 price range which had been holding it's own against last years numbers, is now showing a measurable slowdown. And while the $1.5 to $2.0mil price range is still ahead of last years sales, that lead has also slipped from last month.
And hand in hand with the drop in the number of homes sold in the Tucson Foothills is a noticeable dip in average and median sale prices, which have nudged down again since last month.
Fewer sales = more pressure on prices.
And none of this takes into account the latest meltdown in the credit markets - where jumbo loans got clobbered -which is likely to have a negative effect on home sales here unless some confidence returns to those markets soon.
Nothing to cheer about, unless you look at the big picture and consider that in the last five years the average sale price of a home in the Tucson Foothills is up 72%, and that includes the latest dip in the numbers. And while 72% is not as dramatic a jump as in some other markets, there's no panic in the streets here either, as there is in some of the higher flying markets.