Spring Has Sprung – Whither Housing?

It's been a beautiful Spring week in Flagstaff. At 7000 feet, temperatures have been in the fifties and even thelow sixties at mid-day.  Winter coats are, of course, still required when the sun falls and there is still plenty of snow gracing the mountains above town. Flagstaff is a beautiful place to live!  

It's also been quiet here in Flagstaff this week, with much of this college town out of town for Spring Break. But the school breaks have freed up time for home buyers also and we're seeing some more activity from first-time and move-up buyers.

What we are not seeing is the traditional Flagstaff second-home buyer, who is someone from the Phoenix area looking for a place to get away from the heat and crowds in the Maricopa valley.

This will be the second year in a row that Flagstaff's home market has been without what had been, in recent decades, a deluge (if a flood can come up a mountain?) of second home buyers. As the Phoenix area grew, people from other regions realized the oppression of living in Phoenix in the summer months might overcome the advantage of warm winter months if they didn't have a mountain escape home in summer. But since the real estate boom in Phoenix busted, those would-be second homeowners have not had the equity to transfer to a second home.

Surprisingly, our market has not been hit harder. Indeed, our Flagstaff home prices have been fairly stable while Phoenix's housing prices have plummeted.

Click here for the latest Flagstaff market report,

Click here for some things to do in Flagstaff this weekend.

If you know someone who would like to buy or sell Flagstaff real estate, have them contact our active Flagstaff real estate agents.