By Mike Sunnucks |Rose Law Group Reporter
Home sales were down 43 percent in the Tucson metro area from mid-March to mid-May compared to earlier in the year before COVID-19 closures and shutdowns.
That is according to the latest housing data from Belfiore Real Estate Consulting.
Steven Hensley, an analyst for Belfiore said, compared to last year Tucson home sales were down 35 percent due to the impacts of the Coronavirus.
“Demand was definitely down which obviously we anticipate during the period,” Hensley said.
But it was not as steep as the potential 80 percent drop in home sales originally feared when the pandemic closed much of the economy.
“Only being down 35 percent year over year is still pretty positive,” Hensley said.
Hensley said the Tucson market saw a significant drop off in home sales at the start of the COVID-19 closures and shelter in place order but then buyers and the market started to rebound when Gov. Doug Ducey lifted Arizona’s stay at home orders May 15th.
He said builders have not been offering more aggressive incentives to lure buyers – another sign of market resiliency. Builders in Phoenix and Tucson reported very strong new home sales in the first part of 2020 before COVID-19.
Hensley said areas of Marana and north Tucson have show some strength with buyers taking advantage of low mortgage interest rates.