Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, and Mohave Valley home sales including 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 typical, Fort Mohave jumps

There was a slight uptick in sales this month in Bullhead City compared to September, and a slight drop compared to last October, but nothing more than the typical swing we see this time of year in Bullhead City.

Fort Mohave, which is the area of Mohave County just south of Bullhead City limits, saw the strongest October since 2005. The 40 homes sold in Fort Mohave mark an 11% increase from September and a 43% jump year over year.

Fort Mohave has a lower median home price than Bullhead City, but it also benefits from the availability of USDA financing. That means qualified buyers can finance the entire purchase with no down payment. The combination of affordable prices, low rates, and 100% financing makes buying a home cheaper than renting in some cases.

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley

Source: Western Arizona REALTOR® Data Exchange

Related posts:

1. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – September, 2011
2. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – August, 2011
3. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – July, 2011

Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, and Mohave Valley home sales for August, 2011. 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.

Site built homes moving in Bullhead City

It doesn’t seem to matter if the market is improving or declining, Bullhead City home sales are going to drop in September – at least they have for the last seven years. Even when annual home sales grew by 34% in 2009, they dropped 21% from August to September. Such is the seasonality of the Bullhead City market.

This time around home sales dropped 19% from August totals, but year-over-year sales increased by 3%, with 64 homes sold compared to 62 homes in September of 2010.

Tracking price trends has been a tricky game lately, and as usual median and average prices do not tell the whole story. Although the median residential sale price – which lumps together site-built homes, manufactured homes, and condos – dropped in September, the median price of site-built homes in Bullhead City went up from $112,000 to $114,950.

The inventory of site-built homes has dropped considerably in the last several months, going from 4.5 months supply of inventory at the end of the second quarter to 2.8 months supply at the end of the third quarter (based on the sales activity in the preceding 6 months).

Look at houses below $150,000 and the supply slices in half to 1.4 months.

Now that the market has balanced out overall and returned to normal seasonal patterns, we are seeing a sharp segmentation by price and property type. I expect this to continue into 2012.

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley

Source: Western Arizona REALTOR® Data Exchange

Related posts:

1. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – October, 2011
2. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – September, 2010
3. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – August, 2011

Bullhead City Mayor Jack Hakim was a guest speaker at the Bullhead City/Mohave Valley Association of REALTORS quarterly membership luncheon yesterday.

When Mayor Hakim opened the floor for questions, I asked him about the success of the the Bullhead City Regatta, and its impact on our local economy.

Given that Bullhead City’s budget relies on sales tax revenue, having 27,000+ visitors in town for a few days is a clear win, but the Mayor highlighted some other areas, good and bad, vowing to make it better next year:

I know there were problems at the landing zone, and it broke my heart. It will never happen again. We know what we need to do and we are going to make it right.

Hey, this event grew up fast. I’m glad to see Bullhead City leadership publicly acknowledging complaints and committing to fix them.

Some possible solutions being explored include a bigger beach landing area, and better staggering of floats at the launch site to spread out the traffic.

Regatta is Bullhead City’s signature event

Mayor Hakim shared that the Bullhead City Regatta generated $530,000 in revenues, not including sales tax revenue, and was “funded without any taxpayer money.” An estimate of sales tax revenue generated from the Regatta is expected in the first week of October.

The final count of 27,117 was adjusted down from the previously reported 29,000, which Mayor Hakim attributed to the way wristbands were distributed. Apparently the original estimate of 29,000 was based on the number of wristbands given to various distributors, but not all of those were sold.

He also commented on the demographic diverstity of attendees, pointing out that many were first-timers that otherwise would not have visited the area. And they came from allover, including 28 states, Spain, Italy, Germany, and even Dubai. Yes, Dubai.

The Bullhead City Regatta has grown very quickly into major attraction, or as Mayor Hakim put it, “the signature piece for Bullhead City.”

And the repsonse has been mostly positive, but not everyone is a fan. Citing everything from health and safety, to environmental issues, the few detractors I’ve encountered online have been pretty vocal.

Sure, there have been some negatives over the years, but it’s hard to argue with positives; Vistors come from all over the world to have a good time, spend some money, and they tell their friends.

Personally, I’m a big fan.

Related posts:

1. Bullhead City River Regatta 2011
2. Bullhead City River Regatta
3. Bullhead Regatta by Helicopter

Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, and Mohave Valley home sales for August, 2011. 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 residential inventory hits six year low

Home prices were on the rise this month in Bullhead City, with the median price jumping 24% from July, and 15% year-over-year.

At the same time, unit sales actually fell off 5%, but were up 10% from last August.

On the supply side, the market continues to improve, with inventory down to 445 homes; That’s a low we haven’t seen since August of 2005.

Here’s how it happened:

Plotting monthly home sales against new new listings, using a sample going back to 2009 as shown in the chart above, you can see the shrinking gap between supply and demand.

As homes sold, they were consistently replaced by fewer new listings, cutting the inventory of homes on the market in half in 2 1/2 years.

It’s been a balanced attack.

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City

Fort Mohave home sales dip again

Unit sales dropped for the second month in Fort Mohave, but grew slightly year-over-year, similar to Bullhead City.

It’s worth noting that the 24 homes sold in August is the lowest mark since last August of 2010.

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave

Mohave Valley home sales sag, rounding out the side

Last month I speculated that we were heading back to our normal seasonal patterns. With unit sales also dropping in Mohave Valley, it may just prove the rule.

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley

Source: Western Arizona REALTOR® Data Exchange

Related posts:

1. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – September, 2011
2. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – August, 2008
3. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – August, 2010

Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, and Mohave Valley home sales for July, 2011.

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.

Like water seeks its own level, so does Bullhead City market

The seasonality of the Bullhead City real estate market is such that the there are almost always more sales from April – June than any other three-month period. More often than not, the second quarter wraps, and home sales begin to dip in July.

As with all rules, there are exceptions. Five of them in the last 16 years, in fact.

And it’s no coincidence that three of those five exceptions were 2008, 2009, and 2010, when the normal seasonal trend was trumped by a steady uptrend in unit sales that can be traced back to December of 2007 when Bullhead City posted the lowest monthly numbers in that 16 year period.

Not long ago, the market was completely out of whack. There were far too many homes for sale and far too few buyers.

The supply side started fixing itself five years ago, but it wasn’t until that lowly December of 2007 that demand started to catch up, as shown in the chart above.

Now, with supply and demand finally back in balance,  it seems the “normal” seasonal trend may be back in play.

Unit sales fell off in July for the first time in four years, making 2011 look a lot more normal than the previous three years.

Notice also in the chart above that once the gap between supply (homes for sale) and demand (homes sold) started to close, the median price started to correct.

While the overall residential median price dropped from $79,500 in June to $73,000, the median price of site-built homes grew from $112,000 to $122,000.

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City

Fort Mohave home sales sag after big June

Coming off the best selling June in five years, Fort Mohave unit sales fell to 28 homes sold, failing to match the 30 homes sold a year ago.

The median price did move up 8% month-to-month to $120,450, just a few dollars over last July’s $120,200.

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave

Mohave Valley home sales keep on trucking

Interestingly enough, the 20 homes sold in Mohave Valley were exactly equal to June, and the year-to-date number number of 105 homes sold through July is exactly same as the same period in 2010.

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley

Source: Western Arizona REALTOR® Data Exchange

Related posts:

1. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – August, 2011
2. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – September, 2011
3. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – July, 2008

The Colorado River was overtaken by staggering 29,000 floaters participating in the 5th annual Bullhead City River Regatta this past weekend.

With the event pretty much more than doubling in size each of the last five years, everyone, especially the City, had their eye on safety. Aside from a few knuckleheads I witnessed performing various acts of stupidity, I have yet to hear of any major incidents or injuries. I’ve heard some rumors, none substantiated, so feel free to set me straight in the comments.

And that figure of 29,000 peeps is accurate, according to an article in today’s Mohave Daily News:

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Bullhead City Manager Toby Cotter said the 29,000 figure for regatta floaters “is a very accurate number,” but it will take time to arrive at a final count.

Regarding how much money the event generated, Cotter said there’s “a lot of balance sheet work to do,” with invoices still coming in. He said he expected to have a full report on the regatta at the Sept. 20 council meeting.

Mind you, Bullhead City’s population is somewhere in the range of 40,000 people.

We took in the show from the (dry) comfort of the riverfront, snagging tons of photos and a few videos:

Here’s a video shot from a helicopter by Tom Gallant. Nice!:

Did you Regatta? Will you be back? Please let me know in the comments!

For more on the Regatta, and to make plans for next year, check out these resources:

Bullhead City River Regatta on Facebook

City of Bullhead City Website

Official site of Bullhead City River Regatta

Related posts:

1. Bullhead City River Regatta
2. Rockin’ The River Regatta
3. Bullhead City Regatta for Fun and Profit

Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, and Mohave Valley home sales for June, 2011.

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 home sales up, prices not this time

95 homes sold in Bullhead City this month, which is an impressive 17% increase from last month, and a 13% increase year-over-year.

Units are moving. In fact, this was the strongest June in five years?

Although the overall residential median sale price actually fell by 16% after moving up the last three months in a row, manufactured home sales accounted for a bigger piece of the pie than usual, which contributed to the drop (since manufactured homes sell at a lower price point than site built homes).

Bottom line, growing unit sales continue to clear the inventory, which is key to sustainable appreciation.

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City

Fort Mohave home sales up BIG

Fort Mohave also saw the best selling June in five years, with 44 homes sold. That’s a sizable 63% gain over May, and 13% year-over-year.

With 75% fewer homes on the market now than there were just over 3 years ago, and a solid 2011 to date, Fort Mohave is now down to a low 3.2 month supply of homes.

It will be interesting to see how the market reacts to the rapidly shrinking supply in an area where price has already shown more stabilization than both Bullhead City and Mohave Valley. The median price in 2011 is off by less than 1% from 2010. Compare that to a 14% drop from 2009 to 2010.

Remember, supply drives price.

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave

Mohave Valley ends the year on a high note

Rounding out the side, Mohave Valley also posted month-over-month and year-over-year increases. Home sales in Mohave Valley have been a bit more sporadic than Bullhead City and Fort Mohave this year. As a result, year-to-date sales are actually slightly lower than the same period in 2010 (by 3 homes).

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley

Source: Western Arizona REALTOR® Data Exchange

Related posts:

1. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – July, 2011
2. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – June, 2010
3. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – June, 2009

Each January I write an article for the Bullhead Area Chamber of Commerce highlighting a few key factors to watch in our local real estate market, then I check in with updates throughout the year. I thought I’d share this midyear update while I’m finishing up the Bullhead City Real Estate Report for June.

Midyear Market Report Card

Hard as it may be to believe, we’re midway through 2011 so let’s see how the Bullhead City market is performing against the four key factors I highlighted in January.

Foreclosures: What percentage of home sales do they represent and how fast do they move through the market?

Bank-owned market share is down. Foreclosure sales account for less than 44% of the sales reported to the local MLS year-to-date. That’s still a big number, but it continues to trend down, dropping from 48% last year and 51% in 2009.

Foreclosures are ugly for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which is downward pressure on price. Being on the downhill side of the ugliest real estate trend I’ve seen brings welcome relief to the human beings competing against banks – and if you’re selling today you are competing against banks.

While there are fewer than half the foreclosures on the market today than 2009, they still account for 11% of the active listings – a share that hasn’t changed much in the last year. Watch this one carefully as buyers are drawn to the low prices of bank-owned properties. They set the proverbial bar.

Short sales: What percentage of the home sales do they represent?

When lenders accept a reduced payoff to facilitate a sale from human to human everyone wins. The alternative is usually foreclosure.

Lenders have finally started to budge on short sales, which are up nearly 40% year-over-year.

Short sales account for 8.4% of 2011 homes sales and 6% of homes currently for sale.

Interest Rates: When rates go up by 1%, payments go up by 10%.

Cash is king, especially lately, but financing is a critical part of the real estate transaction. Popular opinion is that rates will remain between 4.5 – 5% for the rest of the year, which would continue to allow qualified buyers to take advantage of the most affordable payments we’ve seen in a long, long time.

Inventory of homes for sale: Supply drives price.

The number of homes on the market is less than one third of what it was in 2006. The glut of supply that eventually led to a pricing freefall is gone, and with sales up year-over-year, the supply of homes is now below 6 months, which is generally considered a balanced market.

It’s taken nearly 5 years to get back to this point after sinking deeply into a seller’s market, making this a very interesting time for real estate.

Foreclosures are stilling coming. How fast will they move through the market? Will lenders continue to give ground in short sale negotiations with upside down sellers? Will rates remain at historic lows? And will the inventory of homes for sale continue to drop, giving way to rising prices?

Stay tuned!

Related posts:

1. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – January 2009
2. Looks Like Real Estate is Dead? Look Closer.
3. Bullhead City Foreclosure Report – October, 2008

Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, and Mohave Valley home sales stats for December, 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.

Another strong December for Bullhead City home sales

Last year, Bullhead City had its strongest December in three years with 78 homes sold. And while the 76 homes sold this December marks a 3.5% dip year-over-year, the federal tax credit stimulus that was going strong a year ago has been mostly out of play since April.

Sales also picked up by 17% compared to the 65 homes sold in November.

The median home sale price did fall from $88,000 to $70,750 if you lump site built homes, manufactured homes, and condos together as one group. Separating out site built homes, which accounted for 64% of the sales in December, the median price was $88,900.

The year ended fittingly considering the path the Bullhead City market has been on for the last several years. The number of homes sold was respectable, but they sold at lower prices. However, it’s probably the only way when you consider that affordability is driving much of the current demand.

On the flip side, supply drives price, and there are now less than half the homes on the market than just there were just three years ago. 2010 started with 702 homes on the market and ended at 590.

Any fallout from the federal home buyer tax credit – concern over the market coming to a screeching halt once the tax credit ended and the training wheels came off – seems to be behind us as well.

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City

Fort Mohave home sales up for 3rd straight month

Monthly homes sales in Fort Mohave have outpaced last year for three months in a row. 40 homes sold in December, up 33% from November and 8% from December of 2009.

The median price fell by 5%, but overall volume grew by more than $1 million for the month.

Affordable prices and favorable financing options are among the factors at play. For example, the USDA program offers zero down financing that is not available in Bullhead City.

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave

Mohave Valley ends the year on a high note

After sinking into single-digit territory with 9 homes sold in November, Mohave Valley finished with one of its strongest months of the year in terms of homes sold. December was also the highest volume month of the 2010.

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley

Source: Western Arizona REALTOR® Data Exchange

Related posts:

1. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – April, 2010
2. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – October, 2010
3. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – August, 2010

Bullhead City, Fort Mohave, and Mohave Valley home sales stats for November, 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.

The median residential sale price in Bullhead City grew just slightly in November as the number of homes sold dropped by about 9% from October. As we head toward the end of the year, there have already been 17% more homes sold than last year with a full month to go.

Of course  the trade-off has been in price – a familiar theme.

Total dollar volume is down by $9.5 million in 2010, despite 124 more homes being sold.

On the supply side, the were 630 homes on the market at the end of November, down from 779 in November of 2009. That gives Bullhead City about eight months supply of homes for sale, where six months is generally considered a balanced market.

Supply is a key driver of price. Less than six months supply is buyer’s market territory, typically characterized by rising prices.

For context, there was more than 12 months supply just a year ago.

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Bullhead City

Fort Mohave

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Fort Mohave

Mohave Valley

The stats:

Monthly Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley, Arizona

Year-to-Date Home Sales Comparison – Mohave Valley

Source: Western Arizona REALTOR® Data Exchange

Related posts:

1. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – December, 2010
2. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – November 2008
3. Bullhead City Real Estate Report – November 2009