Sedona Real Estate Market Update – September 2012

Cooler nights have taken hold in the Verde Valley and we’re into the best season of the year.  Autumn days are typically sunny with clear blue skies and huge puffy white clouds – and the nights are cool and crisp – just cool enough to wear a jacket again!  This string of uninterrupted great weather usually brings buyers back to the Sedona real estate world and this year is no exception.  The main difference this year is that our inventory of available homes and land has shrunk by 20% over the past year and that vacant land is starting to sell again.

The residential market is picking up steam – there are 409 residential units (homes, condos, townhomes included) on the market, and 69 of these are already in escrow.  The single family home market is 309 homes available and 48 already in escrow.  The bottom end of the home market (sub $300k) is pretty well picked over – with only 30 homes available in this price range.  The last 6 months show 86 home sales, so with a 2 month supply of homes, this is a sellers market in this price range!  Well priced homes in this range are moving quicker by the week.

There are 146 mid range homes on the market ($300k-$600k) and 24 are already tied up with other buyers.  The average price per square foot for homes sold in this range is hovering in the $185 per squre foot range – up marginally over last year.

The big story may be our re-emerging vacant land market.  For years, this segment of the market has been dragging – but a recent upswing of activity bodes well for the Sedona region.  We’re a few days away from topping the number of land sales for all of last year… with more than a quarter of the year to go.  A few local builders are buying the best deals (under $125k in the city limits) to build spec homes, and thats fueling a bit of a run on vacant land.  There is little activity in the vacant land market over $250k – but look for parcels to sell over the next year in the $125k-$175k range as the lower end of the market slowly goes away.

Short Sales and Foreclosures are also going away – as we currently have 23 short sales and 16 foreclosed properties on the market.  7 of the foreclosures are already tied up  – leaving a total of 9 available foreclosed homes on the market today.  This also points us in the right direction and shows signs of future strength in our Sedona Real Estate market!