surprise surprise, YTD home sales in the Tucson Foothills

It's the end of the 3rd quarter and time to see how home sales
have been doing so far this year in the Tucson Foothills.
Here's a comparison of single family homes SOLD in the Tucson Foothills for the period of January - September 2006 vs.
January - September 2007. This is for homes SOLD through the Tucson Association of Realtors MLS.
Keep in mind that the Foothills is a niche market, and that during this period there was an average of just 320 homes for sale priced from $500,000 & UP.

Price Range	Jan-Sept 06 # Homes Sold	Jan-Sept 07 # Homes Sold	+/- %
$500 - $750K	173	164	-5%
$750 - 1mil	80	67	-16
$1mil - $1.5mil	66	47	-28
$1.5 - $2.0mil	15	17	+13
$2.0mil & UP	15	10	-33
Total Homes SOLD	349	305	-12
*Avg List Price	$728,706	$721,896	-.93
Avg SOLD Price	$700,898	$689,832	-1.57
Median List Price	$575,000	$569,900	-.88
Median SOLD Price	$569,000	$549,700	-3
$$ Value of Homes SOLD	$400,212,949	$344,915,829	-13

*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.

I report these sales numbers at the end of every month, and I had every expectation that these latest numbers would continue to show an ever widening gap downward from the same period last year.
Why. Because the credit crunch that hit in August, worked it's voodoo on home sales here in the Foothills, causing some deals to fall through and others to not get off the ground.   
But despite that, there's been some improvement. A narrowing of the gap from the same period last year, in just about every category reported. The negative percentages of the # of homes sold this year vs last, has improved since last month. And the average list and sold prices, and the median list and sold prices are up from last month.
See last months numbers, Tucson Foothills Home Sales, year to date
It's surprising, and it stands to reason that things would be even better if the credit crunch hadn't happened. So it's tempting to think that maybe, just maybe, we're on an upswing, but I won't think that, cause I don't think we are, yet. But if things improve again next month, I may be whistling a different tune.