Tucson's housing market has fallen so hard so fast that more than one in three homes sold last year went for less than $100,000.
Nearly 6,400 homes in Pima County were sold for five figures in 2011 - that's more than 35 percent of the 18,000 homes sold last year, an Arizona Daily Star analysis shows.
Only five or six years ago, at the height of the housing boom, not a single home in the market could be had for less than $100,000, said University of Arizona economist Marshall Vest, who tracks the housing market and the economy.
"A few years ago, it was just unthinkable," Vest said. "There just weren't any properties at that price."
The five-figure home sales push down the prices of other houses on the market, making this an awful time to sell a home. But they create great deals for someone who can qualify for a mortgage, and are a bonanza for all-cash investors who can scoop up properties for 15 percent to 40 percent of what the houses were once worth.
"It's 10-years-ago prices," said John Strobeck, of Bright Future Business Consultants, which tracks the local housing industry.
Some properties have sold for prices that go much further back than that. Hundreds of homes sold last year at what can only be called extreme prices: 800 homes sold for under $35,000, nearly 300 of them going for under $25,000 and 15 going for under $10,000.
Investor Gary Zimbler, of Riviera Investments, bought a beat-up manufactured home on the far west side last year for $8,000 and a south-side townhome for $10,500. He's bought several for about $25,000, prices that would have been scarce in the late 1980s and have not been widespread since the early 1970s or late 1960s.
"In '06, I can't remember any properties that were selling for under $100,000," Zimbler said. "Houses are being purchased for a third or 25 percent of their value of five years ago."
Strobeck said many of the homes priced under $25,000 are tiny, aging one- and two-bedroom houses in bad condition. But he called the idea that Tucsonans could buy houses for less than the price of a new car amazing.
"It shocks you, doesn't it?" Strobeck said. "It's a sign of the times."
