According to statistics of the Northern Arizona Association of Realtors®, the number of homes for sale in the Flagstaff market has continued to rise - breaking the 1000 mark as we crossed into July. The pace of sales increased a bit - a total of 136 homes sold in June. This had a substantial impact on the absorption rate as of the beginning of July - reducing it to 7.4 months as compared to 9.47 months as of the beginning of June. Prices overall stayed about the same, with the median rising $14,000 over the course of the month to $307,000. (These numbers include all types of units - single family, townhomes, condos and manufactured homes.)
In summary, homes are still selling and prices have not dropped unlike in other parts of the country. We do have a larger supply of homes for sale than we have had in recent years, but we're still hovering around just 1000 units. In July 2002, there were over 1400 units for sale in a slower economy and a much lower population. We in Flagstaff do not have the incredible price increases that we had 2004 and 2005, but equity is holding steady for homeowners. My expectation is that this is the way the market will be until at least this time next year when we might begin to see faster sales and rising prices again.
The numbers in this analysis are for all residences with Flagstaff mailing addresses, whether or not they are in the city limits of Flagstaff. Statistics are based upon the Northern Arizona multiple-listing-service for all residences sold, including single family, condos, townhomes and manufactured/mobile homes. (MLS sales reports do not include all sales in the market, but are a good representation.)
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Mountain areas seem to be doing well everywhere. I haven't heard how Sedona is doing, but I think perhaps it is somewhere between Flag and Phoenix, not just physically but in the strength of the market too!
Thanks for your comment, Joanne. I am not regularly in touch with the Sedona market, but I do know that last Fall and Winter it was losing value -- more like Phoenix than Flagstaff. The economic base in Sedona is primarily tourism and high-end retirement living. Flagstaff, in contrast, is a major medical center, the home of Northern Arizona University and Gore Medical Products division -- less than 25% of our housing stock is second homes, though that is enough to have a big impact! Tourism is important to us, but less so than 20 years ago. A good thing, because a lot of the Grand Canyon tourism has been routed through Williams -- that helps our traffic congestion, but not our gift shops! I would characterize Flagstaff as more a resort area for Phoenix second home owners and Sedona more a tourism, retirement area. Flagstaff does, however, attract a lot of young, active retirees who don't mind our winter weather. It's much hotter in Sedona because the elevation is lower. When I want to warm up in the winter, I drop down the 40 minute drive for a hike in the red rocks.
I have family in Sedona and go there frequently, as I do to Flag for Home Depot trips etc. I will be there again the end of July so hopefully the monsoons will have kicked in by then. Flagstaff definitely seems much less expensive than Sedona, and personally, I like it better. Perhaps because it reminds me of Colorado!