Some of Arizona’s most Successful Agents call John Hall & Associates home.

Tag Archive: Market Report

Phoenix Real Estate Market Report – June 2011

by on Jun 2, 2011 | Buying, Careers and Training, Real Estate Statistics, Selling

Once again when I ran my initial numbers for May, I was pleasantly surprised. Initial closings for the Greater Phoenix real estate market in May 2011 are 9802, which is within 88 sales of the highest May on record (2005). May 2011 is 5% over April 2011 and 7% above May 2010, which continues 2011’s improvement over 2010’s numbers.

Now the reality check: Prices fell slightly

  • Average Sales Price $158,000 down 2%;
  • Median Sales Price-$108,000 down 3%;
  • Price per square foot-$82.55-down 1%.

These price numbers are all down from April, which can be attributed again to the ‘mix or make-up’ of the sales figures. REO sales were 44% of the total and Short Sales came in at 22% of all sales. So ‘distress sales’ bumped up slightly, which dropped prices accordingly.

I like the Price Analysis that the Cromford Report published at the end of May. It compared prices a number of ways: such as greater Phoenix vs. outside greater Phoenix; single family vs. condos; various price range points from under $25,000 to over $3 million; and finally a breakdown by city showing today’s price per square foot and comparing it to 90 days ago and last year. Yes all cities are down year over year, but the results are mixed comparing the last 90 days. This is valuable information to provide to clients buying a house, REO sellers, appraisers and anyone else trying to evaluate prices for the Phoenix area.

Besides the number of sales in May, probably the biggest news is number of Active Listings. Current number of Actives stands at 23,624 which is only 2.4 month supply of homes. A balanced market has a 4 to 6 month supply, so we are in a ‘seller’s market’, but prices are the last piece to feel the impact of the short supply. It’s a 5 year low for number of Active Listings and if you factor out the AWC’s, you have to go even further back to reach a 2.4 month supply. Within the Active Listing numbers bank-owned properties have a greater shortage with a 1 month supply of inventory and only a 3 week supply of HUD homes. I guess the shortage of supply explains the return of the multiple offer situations and the dreaded multiple counter offers to explain to frustrated buyers.

The market doesn’t really show any signs of cooling off with 13,254 Pending Listings; the same number as the start of May.

There are a few warning signs on the horizon as the Federal government considers how to deal with Fannie and Freddie, maximum loan amounts, and minimum down payment requirements.

Stay tuned by subscribing to our market reports via email.

Phoenix Real Estate Market Report – Feb 2011

by on Mar 3, 2011 | Buying, Real Estate Statistics, Selling

I didn’t forget to write my Phoenix market report on the first, but I was sidetracked with a quick trip to MARS. Stay tuned for more on MARS from every source. Check our blog, aaronline.com, or ADRE’s website for MARS announcements… yes even if you checked them last week. I guarantee you there are new announcements posted. So many changes involving short sale disclosures in the last 30 days. What a challenge to educate the agents!

Hey this is a Market Report. February had 7060 closed transactions. Plus 8% from January 2011; plus 7% from February 2010. Also to be noted 2/11 had the 2nd most closings for a February of all time; previous #2 was 2/10; 2/5 is the #1 February. Prices are appearing to stabilize, although that may not be the right word. They certainly aren’t dropping like they did in the 3rd and 4th quarter last year, when the market was recovering from the tax credit going away. Median price stayed the same-$110,000, average sales price dropped less than 1% to $155,735; and price per square foot rose less than 1% to $81.68. Overall not too bad considering REO’s continue to make up 46% of all sales-3265 (Avg. Sales Price $109K); and Short Sales are 22% (Avg. Sales Price$147K) of February’s closings-1521.

Other trends to watch are Pending Sales which are up 13% since Feb 1st ;Active listings which are down 5% in the same time period; and Short Sale activity in the next 30-90 days. I am concerned with these new MARS Disclosure requirements and the impact they will have on closing Short Sales. Fearful agents usually don’t venture into the unknown, i.e. how to comply with MARS disclosure requirements. This will probably result in fewer Short Sales closing until all Short Sale Negotiator questions are answered.

But let’s go back to prices and overall market activity and get Tom Ruff’s opinion. Tom is President of the Information Market and he says in his latest newsletter:

I’m starting to see a bottom forming: sales volumes are up year over year, new notices are declining, pending active notices are declining, higher prices are being paid by investors at auction, and large hedge funds are taking a close look at our market and are prepared to hit the ground running. As for Maricopa County median prices on resale homes; December, January, and February were all $115,000. REO inventories appear to have leveled. The numbers that made us pessimistic in July are the same numbers that are now making me optimistic.

Tom –Are you reading my e-mail or just forming my thoughts? I couldn’t have said it better and I like your vision.

Greater Phoenix Arizona Real Estate Market Report – May 2010

by on Jun 2, 2010 | Buying, Real Estate News, Real Estate Statistics, Selling

Jim Sexton's Market ReviewThere’s a lot being written about the Phoenix Real Estate market as analysts and practitioners try to describe or predict what’s happening.

In my opinion, the market is sputtering on the price front but continues a brisk pace on a volume basis. To me any month with greater than 9000 closings is an outstanding month. May of 2010 was only the 15th month with over 9000 closings in the last 9 ½ years-that’s 113 months if you’re counting. June will probably be the 16th month with a chance of being the 4th month over 10,000 and possibly the highest month on record (The current #1 is June of 2005 with 10,252). All those ‘beat the tax deadline’ closings will motivate buyers and lenders to “get’em closed” this month.

Pendings and AWC’s continue high with 12,400 and 7700 respectively; that’s over 20,000 properties currently in escrow. Life without a tax credit won’t start until next month and then we’ll see how an unsubsidized real estate market reacts.

So to review May: 9100 closings-with only 20 business days in the month; 37% or 3350 were Bank Owned (REO’s); Short Sales (SS) accounted for 22% or 2000 closings. The real story with SS’s is the 4100 in Pending status and the 7100 in AWC status. When these 11,000 properties currently in escrow close, the percentages will have changed dramatically. Go to our blog for a Mike Orr report on Short Sales courtesy of Old Republic Title. Mike does a great job providing details on SS’s by analyzing them from both a supply and demand point of view, breaking them down by zip code. Also he compares SS’s to REO’s by price range. It’s a good report to refer to, if you have an appraiser or bank that needs information about SS’s specific to a zip code.

Another new statistical report came out this month called STAT. ARMLS provides the report and they have an advanced predictor of prices. You can get this report from your flexmls dashboard or click right here.

Also in our Real Estate Market section you will find our chart tracking Tom Ruff’s foreclosure numbers. The chart shows that New Notices of Trustee Sales are down 21% for the first 5 months of 2010 compared to 2009; Completed foreclosures are up 16% ; Pending Foreclosures are down 13% since the first of the year; and the biggest change is 70% more Cancelled in 2010 than the first 5 months last year. The current number of Bank Owned properties in Maricopa County is 16,301, which is made up of 5200 Active listings; 3850 are Pending; and the balance of 7250 are waiting to be marketed.