The summer slowdown is complete and the busier fall season is upon us in Sedona.  As usual – I post the full statistics on another site for your review in full – but my analysis of the details live here on the RRN site.  There are 408 residential units on the market in Sedona and the surrounding Sedona area (Sedona zip codes only).  66 of these listings are condos/townhomes/manufactured/mobile homes – so let’s call it 342 single family homes.  Of these 342, 47 are currently tied up with buyers – “in escrow” in our local terminology… making a total of 295 truly available homes in the Sedona area.  It seems like a lot to choose from, but if you narrow the search to your approximate price range, there might only be a dozen or more that work for you.  It’s important to see details and pictures to help you weed out the ones that don’t appeal to you – so use the online tools available to search before your arrival here in Sedona. 

It appears as though the inventory of homes has leveled but the overall price per square foot is still on the rise.  We’re currently seeing the average price per square foot of $208.  However, it’s important to remember that this is the AVERAGE – and many people want things that are nicer than average.  So if you see a newer home on National Forest with incredible views, you can easily pay $300 per square foot or more.  Those are just some of the factors that raise the price – so consult with your agent to discuss if your goals are to get the best deal or to get a home that fits all of your needs. 

The upper end of the market seems very healthy, with 23 sales already this year over $1M – and there are 6 more in escrow, so we’ll certainly hit 30 sales by mid-October.  There were only 31 sales over $1M in 2013 (which was the best year for quite some time) so we’re on target to be up 20% or more (in sales not pricing) in the luxury sales market. 

As always the busiest segment of the market is the sub $500k single family home market.  There have been 166 home sales under $500k since 1/1/14.  There were 194 last year during the same period – so that shows a 20% slowdown in that segment.  I’m sure there are a variety of factors that explain the slowdown, including rising prices, Slide Fire slowdown (recent fire in Oak Creek Canyon that affected tourism in town for a month), and others. 

Sellers often wait for September buying season to start to put their homes on the market, so expect a minor increase in the number of homes on the market over the next month.