Wrapping up 2011 - this Sedona real estate market update should give you a fair picture of the last month's activity but stay tuned and I'll do a year-end version in early January to summarize "the year that was".

We currently have 489 residential units on the market (includes single family homes, condos, manufactured homes, etc) and 69 of these are already tied up with other buyers.  This makes 420 homes on the market at this instant... of these homes the breakdown is as follows:

322 Single Family Homes - 69 Condos/Patio Homes/Townhomes - 29 Manufactured homes

I don't have the breakdown for the number of homes available in December of last year, but I can tell you that the total number of homes on the market was 530 - so we're looking at an 8% decline in the number of available homes compared to this time last year. 

Everyone always seems to be interested in the number of Distressed sales (short sales and Foreclosures) - so let's evaluate our current marketplace and sales level.  Of the 489 residential units on the market - 69 of them are Distressed sales - so this makes up about 14% of our current market.  This number has slid downwards over the past year - if you're a dedicated reader, you've heard me quote 17-19% over the past few years.  This decline seems to have been fairly steady - with investors getting back into the market to pick up the best deals.  The sales percentage has also fallen - in November the percentage of sales that were distressed was only 30% - down from 40% over the last 2+ years.  This could signal a shift in the marketplace - teamed up with less inventory - so watch the sub-$400k market over the next few months to see if this balanced market shifts to a sellers market. 

Investor activity has been picking up, but rental units are getting gobbled up by Sedona residents.  I'm not sure whether the increase in renters is due to - but there isn't much inventory of rental homes in the city of Sedona in particular.  In recent conversations with the property managers around town - they need more homes to rent - so if you're thinking about rental property - now might be the time!

In December's closing days I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the few dozen readers that tune in regularly and even email to ask about my next post.  Feel free to contact me when you need personal assistance and I wish you all a Merry Xmas and a happy new year!