In looking at the Bullhead City foreclosures sold in January, we could talk about how foreclosures sold for an average of 98.2% of their asking price and how banks weren’t caving as much on price as they’ve had to in the past to make a sale; or how there wasn’t a huge price difference per square foot between bank foreclosure sales and traditional sales; or how the median price of foreclosures was still a lot lower than the rest of the homes sold. I suppose we could.
But if you want to know what strikes me most about the January figures it’s the number of site built homes sold by human homeowners – not banks.
70% of all homes sold last year in Bullhead City were site built homes, and 60% of those site built homes sold were foreclosures. In fact, there wasn’t even one month last year when traditional human sellers sold more site built homes than banks. Foreclosures made up more than half of the site built home sales for 15 months in a row. Until now.
In January, for the first time in over a year, foreclosures accounted for less than half of the site built homes sold for the month. 25 of the 43 houses sold in Bullhead City were owned by actual homeowners, not banks. It’s noteworthy because site built homes are the sweet spot in the market – that’s where people are buying.
That demand has been driven by foreclosure activity. Seeing banks hold on that sweet spot slip, even for a month, is a big deal.
Here’s the breakdown:
Bullhead City Residential Sales in January 2010
This first section includes all property types. A breakdown by property type follows.
|
Foreclosures |
Non-Foreclosures |
| Units Sold |
30 |
33 |
| Median Sale Price |
$83,500 |
$130,000 |
| Avg. Price per Square Foot |
$82.32 |
$85.39 |
| Avg. List/Sale Ratio |
98.2% |
93.2% |
| Avg. Days on Market |
105 |
151 |
Site Built Homes
|
Foreclosures |
Non-Foreclosures |
| Units Sold |
18 |
25 |
| Median Sale Price |
$70,400 |
$180,000 |
| Avg. Price per Square Foot |
$64.68 |
$95.55 |
| Avg. List/Sale Ratio |
99.6% |
92.9% |
| Avg. Days on Market |
103 |
162 |
Manufactured Homes
|
Foreclosures |
Non-Foreclosures |
| Units Sold |
4 |
8 |
| Median Sale Price |
$62,450 |
$44,750 |
| Avg. Price per Square Foot |
$40.75 |
$53.62 |
| Avg. List/Sale Ratio |
89.9% |
94.2% |
| Avg. Days on Market |
136 |
114 |
Condominiums
|
Foreclosures |
Non-Foreclosures |
| Units Sold |
8 |
0 |
| Median Sale Price |
$231,500 |
n/a |
| Avg. Price per Square Foot |
$142.81 |
n/a |
| Avg. List/Sale Ratio |
99.4% |
n/a |
| Avg. Days on Market |
93 |
n/a |
Source: Western Arizona REALTOR® Data Exchange
August
Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, and Mohave Valley home sales stats for January, 2010.
Includes all residential property types (Single Family Homes, Manufactured Homes, Condominiums) reported to the Western Arizona REALTOR Data Exchange. No commercial property or vacant land.
Bullhead City Real Estate Comeback Continues
Last month I reported that Bullhead City home sales were up 66% from the previous December, closing out 2009 with a strong finish. That momentum has carried over into the new year and 2010 is off to a great start.
There were 63 homes sold in January compared to 45 homes a year ago, making it 15 months in a row that the number of homes sold has been greater than the year before.
Keep a very close eye on prices. The pace of sales is picking up everyday as our inventory of homes for sale continues to drop. There were 683 homes on the market this morning, the lowest number I have seen in a full four years.
The stats:
Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City, Arizona
|
January 2010 |
December 2009 |
January 2009 |
| Units Sold |
63 |
78 |
45 |
| Dollar Volume |
$8,905,200 |
$10,502,800 |
$6,871,450 |
| Average Price |
$141,352 |
$134,651 |
$152,699 |
| Median Price |
$109,000 |
$98,500 |
$115,000 |
Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City
|
|
|
|
2010 |
2009 |
| Units Sold |
63 |
45 |
| Dollar Volume |
$8,905,200 |
$6,871,450 |
Fort Mohave Continues Toward Seller’s Market
I’ve been talking about this for months now. Something has to give in Fort Mohave.
Fort Mohave has been averaging almost 31 homes sold per month for the last year and there are only 185 homes on the market. That’s a 6 month supply and it’s been dropping.
The stats:
Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave, Arizona
|
January 2010 |
December 2009 |
January 2009 |
| Units Sold |
28 |
37 |
20 |
| Dollar Volume |
$2,702,410 |
$4,744,570 |
$2,154,950 |
| Average Price |
$96,515 |
$128,232 |
$107,715 |
| Median Price |
$102,500 |
$125,000 |
$113,550 |
Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave
|
2010 |
2009 |
| Units Sold |
28 |
20 |
| Dollar Volume |
$2,702,410 |
$2,154,950 |
Mohave Valley Keeps Pace with Neighbors to the North
The numbers may be smaller, but we’re seeing a similar pattern in Mohave Valley. Sales picking up, inventory dropping.
The stats:
Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley, Arizona
|
January 2010 |
December 2009 |
January 2009 |
| Units Sold |
17 |
14 |
14 |
| Dollar Volume |
$1,505,250 |
$1,270,200 |
$1,977,239 |
| Average Price |
$88,544 |
$90,729 |
$141,231 |
| Median Price |
$85,000 |
$74,600 |
$114,950 |
Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley
|
2010 |
2009 |
| Units Sold |
17 |
14 |
| Dollar Volume |
$1,505,250 |
$1,977,239 |
Source: Western Arizona REALTOR® Data Exchange
As supply continues to drop in all three markets, lower priced houses are fewer and farther between. This has been especially obvious over the last few weeks as buyers are competing over those houses before they get gobbled up.
Supply drives price, so if this keeps up it’s only a matter of time before something has to give.
Like to keep up on local market stats and trends? The monthly real estate report is usually released after the tenth of each month, followed by the foreclosure report. Or run your own
Search for Homes in the Bullhead City area 24/7. Of course I’m happy to do the searching for you. Just shout.
We know the residential real estate market in Bullhead City has been showing consistent signs of recovery for quite awhile now. Thanks to a strong finish in 2009 Inventory is down, sales are up, and we’re down to a 10 month supply – less than half the supply we had a year and a half ago.
Okay, that seems worth repeating.
The supply of homes for sale in Bullhead City has been halved in less than 18 months.
“10 month supply” means it will take 10 months to deplete the existing inventory based on the current rate of sales. Low supply favors sellers, high supply favors buyers. A balanced market – one that doesn’t favor buyers or sellers – has a six month supply.
But that’s not the big news.
Bullhead City’s micro markets
Within any market, there are micro markets that behave and perform differently than other segments in that market. These micro markets can be neighborhoods, price ranges, property types, and so on.
Even though the overall residential market has improved dramatically, it has “felt” much busier than the numbers reflect since November. So I set out to identify those micro markets that are out-performing the rest of the market. The result surprised me – and I track the market religiously.
Finding the sweet spot in the Bullhead City market
The residential market consists of three property types: Site built homes (houses), manufactured homes (mobile homes), and condos.
Bullhead City had 707 homes on the market at the start of this week. Site built homes accounted for 45% of those homes, manufactured homes 48%, and condos 17%.
Remember that when we lump those property types into a single “residential” group, we have a 10 month supply. Now take a look at them separately.
Things look a little a whole lot different when we look at the residential market in segments.
Site built homes are sitting at 6.4 months supply based on the rate of sales over the last six months. Less than a year ago (1st quarter 2009) the same segment of the market was at 21.6 months supply. Surprise!
So what’s the deal with Manufactured Homes?
To understand why site built homes are moving so much faster than manufactured homes, I see three factors:
- Pressure from site built homes – When the price gap between site built homes and manufactured homes got small enough, people jumped the gap.
- Mortgage Meltdown – (Ugh. Sounds so cliche) When financing programs began to evaporate, manufactured homes were hit very hard. It’s still possible to get financing for manufactured homes, but it’s not nearly as available as it was even a year ago.
- Banks not interested in owning manufactured homes – Lower prices have freed up our stalled inventory, driven by banks disposing of their foreclosed homes. But a very small percentage of the manufactured homes on the market are bank-owned foreclosures – less than 6% compared to 16% for site built homes (houses):
What you need to know
By segmenting the Bullhead City real estate market into micro markets, we can clearly see that the answer to “how’s the market?” varies greatly depending on what market you’re talking about.
Buyers that have been on the fence waiting for the market to bottom, take note of the balanced supply of site built homes. The 21.5 month supply, buyer’s market of 2008 has been whittled down to 6.4 months.
The trifecta of low prices, low interest rates, and supply of homes will not last forever – neither will the $8,000 home buyer tax credit scheduled to evaporate at the end of April.
If you’re looking for a sign in regards to price, I’ll close with this:
Supply drives price, right? Six months ago there were 89 houses under $100,000 available in Bullhead City. AS of this writing there are 54.
For the latest see: Bullhead City houses under $100,000
Data: Western Arizona REALTOR® Data Exchange.
To learn more about homes for sale in the Bullhead City area, check out our
Bullhead City homes search. You can run your own home searches 24/7 and even get emailed when new matches hit the market. No login or personal information required.
Tax appeal.
That was the top story today in the Mohave Daily News. This story was nothing new, really.
They quoted Ron Nicholson (County Assessor) a few times basically saying he is just part of the system, and inviting people to appeal their taxes. The system, by the way, is crazy-complicated and makes for wild swings in property taxes.
I’ve covered the topic of lowering Mohave County property taxes before, so my point today is to remind everyone that the notices of value will be arriving very soon. This is the first step to lowering your property taxes, but you have to act quickly. Let me repeat:
You have to act quickly if you want to lower your property taxes.
The bottom line is this. Your property taxes for 2011 will be based on the assessed value on the card you receive in February. As I said before, the system is complicated, but your property taxes are ultimately influenced by the assessed valuation.
The deadline to appeal your assessed valuation is April 6, 2010. That means you’ll have 2 months or less, depending on what day you get your card, to appeal the valuation if you feel it’s too high.
Here are the two important points that I wanted to share with you today:
Be on the lookout for your Notice of Value in February
The deadline to appeal the Mohave County Assessor’s value is April 6, 2010
I’ll post some info on this after the notices hit, including my usual offer to help with comparable sales. In the meanwhile, hit that link above to learn more than ever wanted to know about how the process works, get sample forms, see exciting links, and so on.
Here is a direct link the Mohave County Assessor page on the topic of appealing assessed valuations to lower your property taxes
Oh, by the way, lots of people contact me every year after they get their actual tax bill asking about getting it lowered. Don’t be that guy! Watch your mailbox and mark your calendar. Give me a shout if you need some help.
Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, and Mohave Valley home sales stats for December, 2009.
Includes all residential property types (Single Family Homes, Manufactured Homes, Condominiums) reported to the Western Arizona REALTOR Data Exchange. No commercial property or vacant land.
Bullhead City has strongest December in 3 years
Home sales shot up in Bullhead City by a whopping 66% over last year’s tally with 78 homes sold in December compared to 47 homes last year.
Still, the most notable thing is not the year-over-year increase in home sales. More notable is that, unlike most years, December ‘09 was one of the biggest months of the year.
Another interesting detail is that the median price was only off by about 6% from the year before. I don’t put a whole lot of stock in averages or medians (and neither should you), but here’s a bottom line you can’t argue with:
Although the median price went down by 6%, the huge uptick in sales netted a 94% increase in volume. And this in what is supposed to be one of the slowest months of the year.
The stats:
Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City, Arizona
|
December 2009 |
November 2009 |
December 2008 |
| Units Sold |
78 |
71 |
47 |
| Dollar Volume |
$10,502,800 |
$8,691,815 |
$5,419,750 |
| Average Price |
$134,651 |
$122,420 |
$115,314 |
| Median Price |
$98,500 |
$103,000 |
$105,000 |
Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City
|
|
|
|
2009 |
2008 |
| Units Sold |
812 |
607 |
| Dollar Volume |
$115,461,518 |
$105,440,366 |
Fort Mohave has strongest December in 5 years
You’ve got to take a close look at Fort Mohave. Not only have sales picked up, but there are now less than 200 homes for sale. Their 6.5 month supply makes it a balanced market – not a buyer’s market, not a seller’s market.
How about this? The supply of homes under $175,000 is actually only 4.5 months. That’s seller’s market territory.
The stats:
Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave, Arizona
|
December 2009 |
November 2009 |
December 2008 |
| Units Sold |
37 |
28 |
16 |
| Dollar Volume |
$4,744,570 |
$3,207,100 |
$2,533,700 |
| Average Price |
$128,232 |
$114,539 |
$158,356 |
| Median Price |
$125,000 |
$112,250 |
$147,450 |
Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave
|
2009 |
2008 |
| Units Sold |
353 |
258 |
| Dollar Volume |
$45,131,618 |
$43,868,565 |
Mohave Valley has strongest December in 5 years
Rounding out the field, Mohave Valley also a strong December. Much like Bullhead City and Fort Mohave, the median price was down year-over-year, but units and volume were up.
The stats:
Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley, Arizona
|
December 2009 |
November 2009 |
December 2008 |
| Units Sold |
14 |
9 |
7 |
| Dollar Volume |
$1,270,200 |
$853,500 |
$899,877 |
| Average Price |
$90,729 |
$94,833 |
$128,554 |
| Median Price |
$74,600 |
$102,300 |
$83,000 |
Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley
|
2009 |
2008 |
| Units Sold |
165 |
102 |
| Dollar Volume |
$21,622,286 |
$21,667,847 |
Source: Western Arizona REALTOR® Data Exchange
The year finished with a bang indeed, with inventory levels approaching that of a balanced market. Some market segments have passed balance and are swinging to favor the seller.
In closing I’ll say this. The market is healthier today than it has been in years.
Like to keep up on local market stats and trends? The monthly real estate report is usually released after the tenth of each month, followed by the foreclosure report. Download
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