Yuma housing market sale price up

The volume of home sales in the Yuma area for the third quarter is way down but the average sales price has crept up a little, according to the quarterly real estate report recently released by the Yuma County Assessor's Office.

A total of 280 sales of single family homes were recorded in July, August and September, said Assessor Joe Wehrle.

That number compares to 475 sales in the second quarter of this year and 382 during the third quarter in 2008. It's also the lowest number of sales recorded for any quarter dating back to 2003, according to Wehrle's report.

On the other hand, the average sales price has crept to $172,390 compared to $167,193 in the second quarter. But it's still down from the $198,730 average sales price during the third quarter of the previous year.

Wehrle, however, cautioned that the increase in the average sales price for the most recent quarter is "kind of suspect" because of the low volume of sales perhaps tipped by a few higher priced sales. For example, there were two sales of homes in Valley Citrus Estates totaling over a million dollars.

Michael Hall, broker for Matt Fischer ERA Realtor, said his observations of the market differ a little. "The third quarter was a good quarter for ERA. Each of the three months had higher sales than during the same month the previous year."

He also is encouraged that the inventory of homes on the market, as reported on the multi-listing service,  has declined in recent months to a range over the summer of five to seven months' supply.

"That's a tremendous improvement over the previous year when we were well over a year's supply," he said.

As for the average sales price going up, he thinks what is happening is that people are getting more house for their money.

"I've been shocked at the deals out there," he said. "They are getting harder to find, though."

The vast majority of sales he's seen lately are under $250,000, Hall said. Still, he added, higher-end deals are happening.

And his office had a busy October. "Just the last two weeks I've seen a huge influx. I have 12 contracts on my desk today," he said Thursday. "We had 113 closures in October. That's more than any month since I became the broker two years ago."

In comparison, he said, his office had only 69 closures in October 2008.

He credits the first-time homebuyers' $8,000 tax credit for driving the market and the push to close escrow before the tax was to expire at the end of November.

However, President Barack Obama signed a bill Friday that extended the homebuyers' tax credit until next spring.

Foothills-area Realtor Donna White said she too had a busy quarter and believes the tax credit extension will help in the coming months.

One thing she's seeing, she said, is that sellers are starting to dig in their heels and hold fast on their asking prices, prices they have been getting lately. Another trend, she said, is that more sellers are financing the sale of their property and collecting 8 to 10 percent interest rates.

Sales are picking up as well at Livingston Ranch, reported Sandy Baas, assistant broker for Coldwell Banker Crimson Sky Realty, the designated agency for the development by custom homebuilder Bobby Kammann.

She attributed the increase in sales to the developer offering smaller homes starting at $197,000.

"We're making it feasible for first-time buyers to have a custom Kammann home," she said.

Baas also reported that foot traffic through the sales office has picked up. "On a weekly basis, 80 to 100 are coming to the office. People are definitely out looking ... and they know what they like and what they want."

On another front, the city of Yuma has issued more building permits for new single family homes this year than during the same period in 2008, reported Alan Kircher, city assistant building official.

He said year-to-date through October, a total of 225 single family home permits have been issued by the city, compared to 215 during the same period last year.

While there are some positive signs in the local real estate market, the issue of foreclosures remains a strong factor, cautioned Wehrle.

"Foreclosure sales are still occurring," he said. "There are still a number of properties that are bank owned."

He said he doesn't regularly track foreclosure statistics. However, he was able to report that there were 636 bank-owned properties as of the end of October. In addition to 318 single family homes, that number included commercial, industrial and agriculture properties, vacant lots, apartment buildings, one motel and manufactured homes.

In September, the number of bank-owned properties was slightly higher at 652.

"Oh yes, from years past that is a very high number ... it's significant," Wehrle said.

For example, there were 400 bank-owned properties in the fall of 2008 and only 134 in September 2004.

"It's still going up," Wehrle said. "I think we're a ways from the bottom."

Joyce Lobeck can be reached at jlobeck@yumasun.com or 539-6853.