The Catalina Foothills

this just in

For more than two months now I’ve been cautiously touting signs of an improving upper-end market. Nothing solid, nothing to bet the farm on, and some of it just a gut feel.

But now, after 4 months of sales, there is some solid evidence that the upper is doing appreciably better this year than last year.

Jan 1 – April 29th
9 homes sold at $1,000,000 or more last year
15 sold at $1,000,000 or more this year

OK, hurrah, 66% more sales,

But there’s more,

in 2015
the median sold price for the 9 sold was $1,200,000
in 2016 it’s $1,320,000

in 2015
the median $$/sf sold price for the 9 sold was $212/sf
in 2016 it’s $268/sf

and
in 2015 the dollar volume (the total $$ value of the 9 sales) was $11,320,000
in 2016 it’s $20,841,330

that’s an 84% increase in dollar volume on a 66% increase in sales.

And perhaps most telling of all, they didn’t dawdle on the market this year like they did last year,
in 2015 the 9 sales were on the market a median of 189 days before going to contract
in 2016 it's 70 days.

Not monumental, but nothing to sneeze at either.

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

talk about the upper-end market picking up …

It just got a big boost;
On 93 acres high above Ventana CC, and listed at $2,800,000, 7300 E Stone Canyon Drive, Tucson, AZ 85750, went to contract yesterday. Enough said,

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

in contract the last 2 weeks, 4/11 – 4/24

From Monday April 11th thru Sunday April 24th,  51 single family homes went to contract in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson AZ.

39 were priced from $164,000 to $589,000
7 from $625,000 to $999,000
5 from $1,100,000 to $1,975,000

An auspicious 2 weeks for homes at all prices.

The numbers for the previous week are HERE

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

when it rains, it pours

Imagine, I’ve been too busy with actual real estate work to blog.

However, I did manage to update the Market Snapshot and the Just Sold on my website.
And both attest to an uptick in market activity. 

Gotta run,

 

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

he who hesitates …

Two more quick contracts today in Pinnacle Ridge, the fastest sale community in the Catalina Foothills.

Listed at $749,000 ($245/sf) 23 days ago 6103 N Pinnacle Ridge Drive is in contract today along with 6358 N Pinnacle Ridge Drive - listed 5 days ago for $825,000 ($233/sf).

With 20 sales in PR since Jan 1, 2013:
10 sales occurred in 0 – 14 days, 6 in 16 – 30 days and the remaining 4 laggards in 42, 57, 72 and 173 days. For a total median DOM of 15 days.

Gotta be a record.

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

another big $$$ sale

5420 N Campbell Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85718 - a very grand Tucson territorial on 4 acres - was listed 158 days ago for $1,799,000 and sold today for $1,625,000 ($268/sf), cash.
Nice sale for today and all that, but the sellers paid $1,600,000 for it in 2001.

Calling it at $1,906,578, Zillow flubbed it again.

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

 

 

 

 

2 big sales in Skyline CC

6840 N Los Leones Drive in Skyline CC sold yesterday for $1,750,000 cash, ($357/sf cha-ching) from a $2,150,000 list price in, get this, 64 days. Zillow zestimated Los Leones at $1,594,636. 
A lavish Mediterranean Los Leones was previously for sale in 2012 - 2014 for the make me move price of $2,750,000. But no one moved.

And John Klein’s masterpiece in Skyline finally found a buyer. Range priced from $1,800,000 to $2,500,000 6700 N Saint Andrews Drive sold for $2,100,000 cash, ($311/sf) – one of the few examples of high-end range pricing that actually came in within the range. A wonderful house that, in my opinion, was hampered by not so wonderful views. Zillow totally blew it, valuing it at $1,666,863.

This is a big vote of confidence for Skyline CC, due, in no small part, to the freshly refurbished and now wildly popular country club. 

St Andrews is the highest $$ sale in Skyline since 2007 while Los Leones placed 3rd.
With these two under our belt 2016 sales at $1million+ in the foothills are at 11 sales v. 7 for the same period last year. I’ve been saying it and we’re now beginning to see it, the upper-end is perking up – there are 14 homes in contract listed from $1,000,000 to $2,295,000.  
Stay tuned.

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

in contract last week, 4/4 – 4/10

From Monday April 4th thru Sunday April 10th,  30 single family homes went to contract in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson AZ.

25 were priced from $185,000 to $549,000
3 from $600,000 to $899,000
2 at $1,195,000 & $2,295,000 (and in no time at all, just 41 & 45 DOM)

another Hot week for Catalina Foothills home sales

The numbers for the previous week are HERE

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

 

$million+ Homes Sales, Foothills & the Northwest

A reader of this blog wondered if the woes of the Catalina Foothills $million+ market were perhaps due to an increasing share of high-end buyers choosing Oro Valley and Marana over the foothills. He further wondered that if it were true that $1million sales had not vanished into thin air, but instead had migrated from the foothills to Oro Valley/Marana, if that would show that the post 2009 rebound of the high-end market  (that has yet to appear in the foothills) was well underway, but just not well underway in the foothills.

Well, as you can see, at first glance that does not appear to be the case. What did happen is that after exploding, briefly, during the boom years the foothills market nose-dive-crashed and has bumped along the bottom since then. During that same time the OV/Marana market rose, but more gradually and gently and has fallen since then, but not nearly as dramatically.

And here’s a subtlety the chart does not show.

Including all $1million+ sales in OV/Marana and the Catalina Foothills, in 2006 the foothills captured 82% of all $1million+ sales
In 2008 that number dropped to 61%
In 2010 it dropped a smidge to $60%
In 2012 it popped up to 72%
In 2014 it dropped to 64%
In 2015 it dropped again to 56%
and for the 1st qtr of 2016 it’s neck n’ neck, with 9 sales each. Uh-Oh!

So while we’re not anywhere near where sales were during the boom it is clear that little by little OV/Marana is capturing a larger percentage of high-end sales.

For the life of me I can’t imagine why, (think many more newer homes in OV/Marana than fthls) but that’s just me, the foothills is my kind of place.

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

for perspective

1st Qtr home sales in the Catalina Foothills from 2005 – 2016

1st up, 1st Qtr. single family home sales at all prices

 

Next, 1st Qtr single family home sales at $1million+

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

in contract last week, 3/28 – 4/3

From Monday March 28th thru Sunday April 3rd,  24 single family homes went to contract in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson AZ. Not another great week (they can't all be great), fewer contracts than recently, but with a pretty fair distribution across the price ranges.

17 were priced from $120,000 to $575,000
4 from $715,000 to $949,500
3 from $1,298,880 to $1,399,950

The numbers for the previous week are HERE

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

Catalina Foothills March Home Sales, not so hot

March sales are up a tad from February, but just a tiny tad. And of course they’re up from January, but who cares, (January’s always a slow month). And this March is way down from last March and it’s lower than any March in 3 of the 4 last years. So, not so hot.

What did happen in March, which will bear fruit in April and into May, is that 120 homes went to contract – and that’s a lot of contracts.

Thru March – single family home sales this year are DOWN 6.4% from last year.

Next, Sold Prices.

As usual, they’re UP & DOWN – UP from February, DOWN from January, and so on.
Bottom line – thru March average/median sold prices are UP 5% & 6.7% over last year - and that’s a healthy jump. Now let’s see if it sticks.

Footnote; Thru March – 8 homes have sold at $1million+ this year v. 6 last year. Pretty exciting, eh.  
Or, how bout this, (it’s more impressive as a percentage) – sales at $1million+ are up 33% over last year. Holy Cow!! 
But there are 14 in contract, and last year at this time there were just 7. Which, when the market’s been bumping along the bottom for 6 years, is at least a ray of light.

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

and a few more $million+ contracts

Since March 21st, when I last reported on contracts at $million+ (HERE),  4 more $million+ homes have gone to contract.

These latest, priced from $1,195,000 to $1,399,950, include 2 Joeslers (Joesler & Joesler ) in the old Foothills (when was the last time 2  $million+ Joeslers went to contract in the same year, never mind 2 in the same week), an awfully good looking contemporary in Ventana CC and a soft contemporary on Sabino Mountain.

Including the 5 $million+ contracts mentioned on March 21st, and the 5 in early March (is the $million+ market finally waking up), that’s 14 $$$contracts in about 40 days. And that’s pretty darn good.

But have no fear, while the market may be starting to chip away at the glut of $million+ listings, new $$$listings are quickly filling the gaps. There are still 95 homes for sale at $1million+.

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home

 

Sunday Open Houses

At last count there were 68 homes in the Catalina Foothills holding Open Houses this Sunday, including our listing at 5330 N Via Alcalde, which we’ll be holding Open from 2 – 4 PM.
Stop by, say Hi and see a very special Spanish Colonial home.

See all the Open Houses HERE

see TheFoothillsToday.com
to find your very own Catalina Foothills Home