Surprise, AZ

Just a little less than one year ago I did an article on the Sun City Grand real estate absorption rate. I decided to revisit this to see how real estate inventories for Sun City Grand compare this year to last year. Those of us who specialize in selling Sun City Grand real estate have been watching our inventory (homes for sale) drop to the lowest numbers we've ever seen.

But you have to take a look at the bigger picture. Are these homes selling? Or are they just being taken off the market. As I just reported in my blog post Sun City Grand Real Estate & Homes Sold - June 2009, we had 45 homes/condos that sold last month. In June of 2008 we only had 19 sales. hmm...

So what is an absorption rate? The actual definition is: The number of weeks (or in my example, months) it takes to sell the current inventory at the present rate of sales

For consumers unfamiliar with the term or how this is calculated, it is actually quite simple. You divide the current inventory of homes by the previous months actual sales to determine the number of months inventory you have on the market.

Many agents will give you an across the board figure. It is my experience however, that people looking for a vacation villa are not really concerned with how many golf course properties have sold or how long the current inventory will take to sell. It is irrelevant to them and these numbers can sometimes skew the the picture for non-comparable properties.

So, I like to break the numbers down. Let's take Sun City Grand for example. As of today, July 1st, we have 31 Sun City Grand golf course homes on the market. Last month we sold 4. This gives us an absorption rate of 7.75. Or, in plain english... it will take aproximately 7.75 months to sell the current inventory of golf course properties, if all other conditions remain the same. This is up from last year when we were running closer to a 5 1/2 month supply of homes and is probably a direct result of most people's retirement portfolios plummeting this last year.

Now let's look at Sun City Grand non-golf course single family homes. We currently have 135 homes (not including condos) on the market and we had 40 that sold last month. Based on these numbers, it will take aproximately 3.37 months to sell the current inventory. Last year at this time we were running at a 6.45 month supply of single family homes. hmmm...

A market is generally considered "normal" when you have a six month supply of homes on the market. Anything above that number would be considered more of a buyers market and anything less is usually considered a sellers market.

Market conditions are REGIONAL and can even be quite different in relatively small geographical areas. It comes down to supply and demand within these unique communities. For Sun City Grand, this next year may see golf course properties continue to stay on the market a little longer BUT... non-golf course home prices could very well be nearing the bottom and we might start seeing them rebound a little. This will only occur if our inventory of these homes stays down while the sales remain strong.

Now let's look at some of the other Arizona retirement communities:

Sun City West golf course homes - 4.07 month supply (last year 6.85)
Sun City West non-golf course homes - 5 month supply (last year 3.43)

Arizona Traditions golf course homes - 6 month supply (last year 7)
Arizona Tradition non-golf course homes - 8.5 month supply (last Year 6.14)

Corte Bella golf course homes - 4.5 month supply (last year 16.5)
Corte Bella non-golf course homes - 13 month supply (last year 15.16)

Trilogy @ Vistancia golf course homes - 6.33 month supply of resale homes (last year 16)
Trilogy @ Vistancia non-golf course homes - 7.75 month supply of resale homes (last year 6.71)

PebbleCreek golf course homes - 6.25 month supply of resale homes (last year 4.25)
PebbleCreek non-golf course homes - 11.75 month supply of resale homes (last year 7.5)

Sun City Festival golf course homes - hard to say - 3 on market, no sales last month
Sun City Festival non-golf course homes - 2.62 month supply of resale homes (no sales last year)

I should note that Trilogy @ Vistancia, PebbleCreek, and Sun City Festival are affected by the incentives the builders are giving for new construction. It is very difficult to compete with their "deals" and resale homes either have to be discounted heavily or they will sit on the market. It would appear the Sun City Festival sellers are pricing their homes to move them.

Corte Bella is still struggling with resale inventories that skyrocketed while Pulte was completing their sell-out of the community, offering unbelievable deals on the last of the new construction homes.

These figures are meant only to give you an idea of the market as it stands today, compared to last year. Because of the seasonality of our "snow-bird" market these figures vary widely from month to month.

Some of the most spectacular sunsets can be seen from your patio in Surprise Arizona.

If you looking to buy a home or sell a home in Sun City Grand in Surprise Arizona, please contact me or visit my website to search homes for sale in Surprise AZ.

Sun City Grand ~ I live here, I work here, I know this community!

© 2009 Leolinda Bowers (Arizona Retirement Communities & Sun City Grand Real Estate). Unless otherwise noted, the content, both pictures and written, is the property of Leolinda Bowers.

I just posted the June sales figures for Sun City Grand real estate. We are currently experiencing the lowest home inventories we have had in years. This month Sun City Grand had 45 home sales. Last June we had 19.

Only time will tell but there are indications we could be at or very near the bottom of our real estate market. Once demand outpaces supply we should see prices start to recover. While we've seen home values drop, our sales in Sun City Grand have remained fairly strong through the real estate crisis. In years past our Canadian neighbors helped keep our resale numbers up. For the last 9 months or so though they have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the exchange rate to improve, but our June closing numbers are strong anyway. As I said, only time (and the national/world economy) will tell...

Click on the tabs below to see a COMPLETE list of the Sun City Grand home sales figures for the last month as well as past sales reports.

Subscribe to my AZActiveRetirementLiving.com blog feed

This market update for Sun City Grand real estate & Arizona Traditions properties provides you with transactions that closed in escrow in June 2009.

Sun City Grand Golf Course Properties

Sun City Grand Properties Off the Golf Course

ARIZONA TRADITIONS

This market update provides the original list price of the property at the time the property was listed and prior to any price adjustments.

Properties on this recently sold list have been listed or sold by various participants in MLS. Information deemed reliable and accurate, but not guaranteed.

Sun City Grand...I live here, I work here, I know this community!

© 2009 Leolinda Bowers (Arizona Retirement Communities & Sun City Grand Real Estate). Unless otherwise noted, the content, both pictures and written, is the property of Leolinda Bowers.

A few days ago I came across a post from a lady who was having difficulty finding just the Sun City Grand listings amongst all the Surprise, Arizona homes for sale. No small feat. As of this writing that is 198 homes in Sun City Grand out of 831 total in Surprise.

I told her that several agents who specialize in the Arizona active retirement communities, including myself of course, have made it easy to find those listings by creating searches for just these communities.

It hasn't always been that way though. When I came to work for Ken Meade Realty I knew I wanted to specialize in selling real estate in the area retirement communities. Knowing that the vast majority of our clients come from out of state and that many begin their search months, or even years, in advance of actually moving, I started doing Google searches the way a buyer would.

I would search for Sun City Grand real estate, homes for sale in Corte Bella Arizona, Sun City West homes on the golf course, etc. just to look at the realtor websites that came up. At the time I was amazed at the lack of good information out there and I knew this was where I could excel. I set out to make the best consumer website I could for people looking for retirement communities in Arizona. I built it, and they came... my business took off!

My website is a constant work in progress. I continue to add new information to it all the time. You'll find sales reports for most of the communities, virtual tours, loads of information and links to community websites, floor plans, links to activities and things to do around the greater Phoenix area, a blog devoted just to AZ Active Retirement Living, and so much more.

For each of the communities I feature on my website (Sun City Grand, Sun City West, Sun City Festival, Corte Bella, Arizona Traditions, Trilogy at Vistancia, PebbleCreek & Sun Village) I have broken down the listings in smaller categories based on price, square footage, golf course, homes with a pool, foreclosures, short sale properties, etc. This makes it easy for buyers to find the homes they are looking for, quickly and easily.

The greatest compliment to all the time and work comes when my clients tell me, "You have a GREAT website!". Then they will often tell me they had been visiting it daily for many months before actually contacting me.

Which brings me to another point. While I highly recommend you let me set up a custom search for you, I don't make anyone register to get the information. As a consumer, nothing turns me off more than having someone demand my personal information before I am ready to give it. So I'm not about to make you do it either.

If you are looking for YOUR little piece of Arizona paradise check out KathyAndersonRealtor.com.