Tesla Motor’s Elon Musk said the need for lower-cost batteries for autos and power storage means there will need to be hundreds of “gigafactories” like the one the carmaker is planning to build.

But for the time being Tesla Motors Inc. is narrowing its search for the much coveted and ballyhooed $5 billion electric battery factory down to a final pick within two or three months. “We are approaching a down-select stage in the process, which will likely see two locations emerge,” said Alexis Georgeson, a spokeswoman for the Palo Alto, California-based electric car maker.

Tesla wants to down-select two sites before it picks a final winner for the 10 million-square-foot plant. This should intensify the bidding war between the two remaining states.

The electric-car company based in Palo Alto, California, anticipates the battery factory will reduce the cost of lithium-ion cells by more than its initial guidance of 30 percent, Musk said when he spoke recently at the World Energy Innovation Forum, an annual conference hosted by Tesla board member Ira Ehrenpreis.

Tesla is getting close to deciding where it will build the first such proposed facility, which Musk has said will cost as much as $5 billion and involve partner companies such as Panasonic Corp. Last week he said groundbreaking at one of at least two potential sites could happen as early as June.

Along with supplying cheaper batteries for Tesla’s electric cars, the plant is to also supply stationary power storage devices to SolarCity Corp., another Musk-affiliated company. Those power storage devices will be needed by other solar power providers and to store wind power, he said, without identifying specific companies. Musk currently gets his batteries from Panasonic and an Asian supply chain.

Tucson, Pinal County, Buckeye, San Antonio, Reno, Albuquerque and California have all been in the mix for the Tesla plant. Tesla assembles its cars in Fremont and recently leased industrial space near Stockton.

The plant has been met by some Wall Street and supply skepticism and today was slapped with a junk credit rating by Standard & Poor. Reason given: “considerable uncertainty” about its long-term prospects.

The unsolicited B-ranking, six levels below investment grade, reflects a business “constrained by Tesla’s niche and independent market position,” S&P, the world’s largest credit-rating company, said Tuesday in a statement. “Palo Alto, California-based Tesla has a smaller scale relative to peers, a narrower product focus, and limited demand for its products, said S&P, which said its outlook on the rating is “stable.”

The youngest publicly traded U.S. automaker has tapped debt markets without a ranking from any of the major ratings companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Tesla raised about $2.3 billion in March selling convertible debt to fund a battery factory to make more affordable models. “We believe there is considerable uncertainty in Tesla’s long-term prospects,” S&P analysts Nishit Madlani, Dan Picciotto and Joseph Lin wrote in the report. Compared with larger, more established automakers, the company is less likely “to successfully adapt to competitive and technological displacement risks over the medium to long term,” they said.

The gains in Tesla shares slowed this year after the company reported first quarter Model S sales this month that fell below top-of-the-range analyst estimates. Shares have risen 41 percent for the year to $211.56.

February Tucson multifamily sales broken out by submarkets show an aggregate price of $2.5 million.

NORTHEAST SUBMARKET
Family Lease, LLC of Tucson purchased a fourplex at 4051-4057 E Bellevue Street in Tucson for $235,000 ($58,750 per unit). The property was constructed in 1945 on a .16 acre lot. The seller was Oakridge Investments of Tucson.

A triplex at 5657 E Pima Street in Tucson sold to Diane Ong of Tucson for $158,000 ($52,666 per unit). The property consists of one 3 bedroom / 3 bath and two 1 bedroom units, built in 1951, on a .22 acre lot. Kathleen Anderson of Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty represented the investor and Michael Bishop and Gus Maughan of Cardinal Real Properties represented Posco PSP, LLC of Tucson, the seller. [mepr-show rules=”58038″]All electric, no gas on property, owner pays water/trash. GSI was $24,756. Cap rate was reported to be about 14%[/mepr-show]

SOUTH SUBMARKET
Four duplexes, or 8-units at 2410-2528 E Cameron Vista in Tucson sold for $291,060 ($36,383 per unit).  Each duplex was 1,485-square-feet, built in 1952. Dynamic Growth Properties of Gilbert, AZ was the seller and Sanjay and Sonia Suri and Javier and Juana Galindo the buyers.

2550 Parkside, LLC of Tucson purchased a triplex at 2126 S 8^th Avenue in Tucson for $90,000 ($30,000 per unit). The property consists of a main house with 3 bedrooms with a duplex in back. Brian D Wick of Keller Williams represented the seller, AZ Square #3 and Paul McComb of Paul McComb Realty represented the investor. [mepr-show rules=”58038″]All units are individually metered. GSI was $19,020 and cap rate was reported to be 20% [/mepr-show]

CENTRAL SUBMARKET
A triplex at 2446 E 2^nd Street in Tucson sold for $400,000 ($133,333 per unit). The 3,291-square-foot building was built in 1975. The buyer was David and Katherine Hiller of Tucson and the seller, John and Kelly Abbott also of Tucson.

12-Units at 1548 E Hedrick Drive sold for $300,000 ($25,000 per unit).Blue Jay Real Estate of Tucson purchased the 6,559- square-foot complex in six buildings built from 1929 -1941 on .85 acres. The seller was William Gewirtz Trust of Tucson.

A triplex at 3101 N Palo Verde Avenue in Tucson sold for $175,000 ($58,333 per unit). The property was well maintained with three 2 bedroom / 1 bath units, built in 1970 on a .21 acre lot. The investor, The Theodore T Sackett Trust of San Miguel, CA was represented by Matthew Bollinger of Long Realty and the seller, The Carabetta Revocable Living Trust of Tucson was represented by David Walsh of Realty Executives Tucson Elite.

Peter and Kristi Coy purchased a fourplex at 329-335 East Alturas Street in Tucson for $172,000 ($43,000 per unit).  The 2,774-square-foot building was built in 1987 on a .33 acre lot. Paul Shellenbarger of La Quinta, CA was the seller.

A duplex at 3125 N Cherry Avenue in Tucson sold for $140,000 ($70,000 per unit). The main house was built in 1948 originally as an SFR. It was converted to a 2 bedroom house with a 1 bedroom guest house. Alex Mastrangelo of Habitation Realty represented the seller, The Bachman / Peeters Trust of Tucson.  Cindi Kaliszewski of Realpros represented the investor.

Loren Markley was the seller of the property at 809 E Adams in Tucson, a triplex, for $108,557 ($36,186 per unit).  The three buildings were build circa 1920 on a .17 acre lot.  42^nd Street Enterprises of Tucson was the buyer.

A fourplex at 3463-3469 E Pima in Tucson sold for $297,750 ($74,438 per unit). The 4,025-square-foot building was built in 1980 on a .28 acre lot. The buyer was William Clark of Vail, AZ and the seller Mark Johnson Properties of Tucson.

Tucson Association of Realtors (TAR) has released the Tucson housing report for February 2014. Total sales volume increased 12 percent from January, and up 6.5 percent since February 2013.

Year-over-year unit sales, sales volume and median sales price as well as active listings were all up over 2013.

Here are the highlights from TAR’s Residential Sales Report:

Home unit sales were 961 homes, an increase of 12.5 percent changing hands in the Tucson area since January (854) and ten more than February 2013 unit sales (951). While total sales volume in February was $188.9 million, 12 percent higher than January’s $168.5 million, and 6.5 percent higher than February 2013 ($177.3 million).

Observers see the 961 home closings reported for February showing an increase in median sales price of $158,000,  $750 higher than January; and $9,000 higher (+6%) than February 2013 ($149,000).

The average sales price of $196,581 was $681 lower than January ($197,262); but about 5.4 percent higher than a year ago, that of $186,482 in February 2013.

At the end of February, overall inventory of residential properties increased to its highest level since May, 2011. Boosted by 2,085 new listings, there were 5,721 homes in inventory and month-end, or 5.9 months of inventory in the Tucson area.

In May 2011, there were 5,795 homes for sales in the region, with listings generally trending downward since then, reaching a low of 3,474 units in June 2012. From that point, the housing supply began trending upward until dipping during the spring 2013 selling season.

On average, residential properties spent 63 days on the market in February, 16-days longer than September 2013 which was 47 days, the shortest market days since before 2009. With 1,961 sales pending at the end of February, pending sales up by 8 percent from January.

Conventional loan sales accounted for 41.6 percent of the all the sales in February, continuing to exceed cash sales of 41 percent; while FHA and VA loans combined accounted for the remainder according to TAR’s tracking.

Please refer to full February sales report for graphs and additional information at https://tucsonrealtors.org/tar-v2/statsDec2013.pdf

Tucson Rental Statistics can be found here: https://tucsonrealtors.org/tar-v2/statsRentDec2013.pdf