Heather Tawes Nelson ABR, CLHMS - Scottsdale, AZ

May 2009 was another very positive month for the Scottsdale AZ real estate market. Building on the last several months of great performance, sales of single-family homes were up, pendings are at the highest level I have seen and inventory continues to drop off.

May 2009 Findings

• Active Homes for Sale: This figure dropped to 3,224, an 11.9% decrease over April. This figure is well below the 12 month average of 3,843 and is the lowest I have seen in 21 months of tracking this data.
• Homes Pending Sale: There were 562 pending home sales at the end of May. This number is significantly higher than the 12 month average of 330 and was up another 15.4% over April.
• Home Sales: Home sales jumped again in May to 348, a 15.6% increase over April. This is the fifth month in a row we have seen increases in this figure. The majority of this growth in home sales is in the lower price points and/or sales of distressed properties - i.e. short sales or lender-owned homes.

There seems to be a lot of momentum going in the Scottsdale single-family market right now and based on the pending figures, June will be another strong month.

To see the original post or to learn more about Scottsdale AZ real estate, please visit Scottsdale Real Estate News & Lifestyle.

Disclaimer: Data and information was pulled from the Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS) as of 6/1/2009 and can change at any time. The analysis looks at single-family resale homes in Scottsdale AZ over the last 12 months. There may be new home inventory in these figures if the developer is using the MLS to market its homes.
Copyright © 2009 Heather Tawes Nelson

Here are the most recent figures for the Greater Phoenix luxury condo market, which is defined as condos with list prices in excess of $1 million.

At the end of April, 90 luxury condos were on the market for sale. Of those, fifty-five were in Scottsdale, thirty-three were in Phoenix, and the remainder, two, were in Tempe. Activity was slow for this market segment in April. Only one unit was pending sale at the end of the month. It was a three bedroom, three bathroom, 3,350 square foot penthouse unit at Esplanade Place in Phoenix.

Here is a quick overview of April 2009's numbers:

To see the original post or to learn more about the luxury condo market in Scottsdale or Greater Phoenix, please feel free to contact me. For more information on Scottsdale AZ real estate and the surrounding areas, please visit www.scottsdaleagent.net

Disclaimer: Data and information was pulled from the Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS) as of 5/1/2009 and can change at any time. The analysis looks at single-family resale condos in Scottsdale, Tempe and Phoenix over the last 12 months. There may be new home inventory in these figures if the developer is using the MLS to market its homes.
Copyright © 2009 Heather Tawes Nelson

If you have not had the opportunity to visit the Desert Botanical Garden, I highly recommend going soon. There are currently two wonderful exhibits in place until the May 31, 2009.

Chihuly: The Nature of Glass Exhibit - Dale Chihuly is a phenomenally talented artist who works with glass as his medium. His glass sculptures are beautiful, elegant and whimsical all at the same time. The installation at the Desert Botanical Garden is beautifully integrated into the exhibits, providing bright punches of color throughout. You do need to make reservations to see the exhibit so please visit the Desert Botanical Garden's website at www.dbg.org.

The second exhibit is a wonderful, interactive one featuring butterflies. It is the Spring Butterfly Exhibit and you get to walk through an enclosed pavilion with hundreds of butterflies fluttering by. If you have children, they have "Butterfly Bingo" charts that they get to bring in to help identify all of the different species.

Another fun set of events is the Jazz in the Garden Concert Series. On Friday nights through June 26th, there will be performances by various jazz artists. There is more information on the performers and the concert series on the website.

Even if you are unable to visit while these exhibits and events are taking place, the Desert Botanical Garden is still worth a visit. It is amazing to see the diversity of plant life found in the Sonoran Desert and there are plenty of educational opportunities throughout the compound.

Information:
Desert Botanical Garden at Papago Park
1201 N. Galvin Parkway, Phoenix, AZ 85008
480-941-1225
www.dbg.org

To see the original post or to learn more about Phoenix and Scottsdale AZ real estate, please visit Scottsdale Real Estate News & Lifestyle.

April was a very good month for Scottsdale single-family home sales. The bulk of the activity is occurring at the lower end of the price spectrum, but we a re also seeing some promising signs in the luxury home market as well. This analysis looks at single-family resale homes in Scottsdale priced $1,000,000 and above over the last twelve months.

- APRIL 2009 -

Homes Priced Between $1,000,000 - $1,499,999
- Actives: There were 497 homes for sale in this price range. This is the first time this number has dipped under 500 in the last year. The 12 month average for this is 549.
- Pendings: At the end of April, there were 30 homes pending, a 7.1% increase over March's 28. The 12 month average for pendings is 26, so this is positive.
- Sold: April was a great month for home sales in this price point. There were 24 sales, double what we saw in March. The last time we saw sales volume like this was July of 2008. The 12 month average is 17.
- Sales Price to Listed Price: 88.4%

Homes Priced Between $1,500,000 - $1,999,999
- Actives: There were 303 active homes. This number has been hovering around 300 for the last several months and the 12 month average is 290.
- Pendings: Sixteen homes were pending at the end of April, twice as many as in March. The last time there were this many homes pending was June of 2008. The 12 average is 10.
- Sold: Only 4 homes sold in April, which was disappointing. On average, there are 7 sales per month in this price range.
- Sales Price to Listed Price: 89.9% This is about where it has been over the last 12 months

Homes Priced Between $2,000,000 - $2,999,999
- Actives: There were 336 homes for sale in this price segment, down from 350 in March. This is below the 12 month average of 349.
- Pendings: Eight homes were pending, which is just ahead of the 12 month average of 7 and a 60% increase over March's five pending homes.
- Sold: Only five homes sold in April which ended a three month run of increasing sales. On average, six homes in this price point sell per month.
- Sales Price to Listed Price: 88.8%. This is back to a more normal level. March had a very low 77.3%.

Homes Priced $3,000,000+
- Actives: There were 231 homes for sale. This figure has been steadily decreasing month-over-month since November of 2008. The 12 month average is 276.
- Pendings: Five homes were pending at the end of April. This is the first time this number has gone down since January. The 12 month average is 6.
- Sold: Five homes sold in April, ahead of the average of 4. However, it was down slightly from March's six sales.
- Sales Price to Listed Price: 84.7%. This is a little lower than is usual, but is an improvement over March's 83.3%.

As you can see, some of the price segments preformed better in April than others. We are seeing a lot of declines in inventory levels and pending sales are looking good for the most part. Sales were somewhat varied.

To see the original post or the detailed data behind this report, please visit my Scottsdale luxury real estate market reports page and click on the "Scottsdale Market Trends" report. For other information on the Scottsdale real estate market and the surrounding areas, please visit my Real Estate Market Reports page.

Disclaimer:
Data and information was pulled from the Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS) as of 5/1/2009 and can change at any time. The analysis looks at single-family resale homes in Scottsdale over the last 12 months. Any references to 'average' figures implies the average of the last 12 months of data. There may be new home inventory in these figures if the developer is using the MLS to market its homes.
Copyright © 2009 Heather Tawes Nelson

April 2009 was a great month for Scottsdale single family real estate. Active homes for sale are dropping, pending sales were way up and sales were very strong.

April 2009 Findings
Active Homes for Sale: The number of homes on the market dropped almost 7% from March to 3,661. This is the fewest number of homes on the market we have seen in the last year and it is well below the 12 month average of 3,913.
Pending Home Sales: Pending sales jumped to the highest level seen in the last 12 months to 487. This figure has been increasing dramatically month-over-month since Janaury of this year. The 12 month average for pending sales is 314.
Homes Sold: There were 301 home sales in April, a 24.4% increase over March. The last time this figure surpassed 300 was June of 2008. This figure has been growing month-over-month for the last three months.

Overall, April was a great month for Scottsdale single family homes. We have seen some momentum building over the last several months and with such high pending sales, May looks to be very promising.

To see the original post or to learn more about Scottsdale AZ real estate, please visit Scottsdale Real Estate News & Lifestyle.

Disclaimer: Data and information was pulled from the Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS) as of 5/1/2009 and can change at any time. The analysis looks at single-family resale homes in Scottsdale AZ over the last 12 months. There may be new home inventory in these figures if the developer is using the MLS to market its homes.
Copyright © 2009 Heather Tawes Nelson