Tucson, AZ

Its fairly common knowledge that the housing market in Tucson has slowed dramatically from its boom just two years ago. There has a been a swing from the seller’s market that realtors, sellers and those associated businesses enjoyed in the summer of 2005. Back then houses were often selling before they even hit the MLS and were fetching top dollar. Fast forward to this summer - the pendulum has definately swung into the buyers market. Buyers now have time to shop around with more houses on the market then there are buyers waiting to buy.

This shift has had an impact on the downtown redevelopment project dubbed Rio Nuevo. There were several condominium projects planned for the area and it seems the sluggish market has placed these plans on hold.

A recent article in the Arizona Daily Star reports that several major housing projects have been placed on hold and face an uncertain future. You can read that article HERE.

It seems that project planners and real estate developers were counting on the housing boom to continue but we can see that was not the case. High construction costs, coupled with a slow market has made developers wary to be the first to start construction. As the Star reported, to make a profit developers would have to charge around $400,000 for a 1000 square foot condo. That price point just isn’t feasible in this market.

There is some talk about creating more rentals instead of the private condominiums. Adding more apartments downtown could be one solution to Rio Nuevo’s many problems.

With significant amounts of money at stake we should see more progress than we have. In 2006 the Arizona legistature increased the amount of state funding by $600 million dollars and extended the time-frame by 12 years. So when should the public demand that progress be made? These are our tax dollars at work - well right now they are bogged down in planning and “discussion” over how to best spend them. Maybe a better solution would be to finish the projects actually started and give the rest of the money to our struggling school districts.

Image copyright Amber Curtis

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