January 2013 Sedona Real Estate Market Update

Chilly winters days prevail (this week at least) and our cold winds tend to keep the buyers at bay.  Our cold snaps are temporary… as is our temporary slowdown in Sedona real estate buying.  The good news (for the market in general and for sellers) is that the number of available homes and vacant land is at a 6 year low.  We currently have only 363 residential units on the market (of which 62 are already tied up in escrow with other buyers) and 336 vacant parcels available (11 of these are in escrow too!).   I say that this is good for the market and for sellers, because when availability decreases, prices tend to rise (thus, not as good for buyers)

The great news for everyone is that the short sales and foreclosures are fading quickly.  These lower priced properties were the scourge of neighborhoods for the last few years, comprising as much as 17% of inventory and 40% of sales.  In 2012, these distressed residential sales made up only 22% of sales – and currently represent 11% of the available homes.  Looking forward by examining the number of current short sales listings (pre-foreclosure homes) is even lower.  Short sales are down by 65% over last year…  This should indicate that future foreclosures will be down by the same percentage one year from today.  Just like that… poof – the Sedona foreclosure market will dry up and go away (maybe!).

See my statistics website at www.sedonaforsale.com for backup data to this story and to see the health of the local real estate market!