In the Tucson, AZ market, new home sales declined year-over-year in November, but the percentage fall was an improvement from October 2011, suggesting the market may be evening out. New home sales saw a 61.3% drop from a year earlier to 43 after sales declined 66.9% in October from the year earlier.

A total of 954 new homes were sold during the 12 months that ended in November, down from 1,022 for the year that ended in October.

New home sales as a percentage of overall housing sales fell to 4.0% from 13.3% of sales a year earlier. Sales of new and existing homes climbed year-over-year in November following a decline in October year-over-year.

The average per-unit price of newly sold homes rose year-over-year to $244,940 in November, up 3.7% from last year. This rise is smaller than the 40.8% bump in October year-over-year.

Along with new home prices, there was an increase year-over-year in the average mortgage size on newly sold homes. In November 2011, there was a 14.8% rise in the average mortgage size, reaching $219,093. In October 2011, average mortgage size on newly sold homes saw a 19.4% boost year-over-year from a year earlier. The overall percentage of sale price that was being financed increased 8.6 percentage points year-over-year to 89.4% in November 2011. In October 2011, there was a 12.7 percentage point decline in October from a year earlier.

Single-family homes accounted for a greater percentage of new home sales than last year. The share of new home sales belonging to single-family homes increased from 95.5% in November 2010 to 97.7% of sales in November 2011. Meanwhile, attached units as a percentage of all new home sales slid to 2.3% of sales from 4.5% of sales.

There was a 10.8% fall year-over-year in the average unit size of newly sold homes to 1,817 square feet in November 2011. For newly sold homes, an average size decline contrasting with an average price rise was also seen in October 2011 when the average size of newly sold homes fell 1.2% to 1,915 square feet.

Foreclosures and real estate owned (REO) sales declined in November from a year earlier, but stayed a drag on the market. Together, foreclosures plus REO sales made up 61.2% of existing home sales, down from 96.8% a year earlier. The percentage of existing home sales involving foreclosures dipped to 41.1% in November from 46.9% a year earlier while REO sales as a percentage of existing home sales dropped to 20.1% from 49.9% a year earlier.

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