Average Days on Market Going Down!

You’ve seen my charts, graphs and data on this blog over the past six months as I make the case that either (1) homes actually are going up in price or that (2) the local news media has its head stuck up some, er …., shall we say, “dark cave” when it comes to predicting the way the market is going.

So, here is a bit of anecdotal evidence to further the case.

About three weeks ago a couple clients of mine and I started narrowing down the list of houses that they wanted to see when they came to town last week. We started with a list of over 20 properties that were “favorites”. This was the short list of properties that we might want to see.

By the time they got here, half of those had accepted offers. Further, during the time that we were looking at what was left another one went under contract. Luckily we found the perfect property for them anyway. And what happened? There were multiple offers on the property.

I am constantly amazed at how quickly these properties are going as I show people around Central Phoenix. If I were to isolate the average “days on market” for properties in Central Phoenix, versus the rest of the city (not even the rest of the valley), I’m confident that they would be on the market for 20% to 30% less time than anywhere else.

Oh, but there’s that data again.

Several things are happening to make this trend (gleaned from anecdotal conversations with clients):

1) The economy is getting better. Yes, it is slow, but it is enough that those who have jobs are feeling more comfortable about making home buying decisions.

2) Gas prices. As gas prices go up, more people are looking in CenPho. I hear it from my clients all the time.

3) People are looking around and seeing that houses are going more quickly, so they are making decisions more quickly themselves.

If you have been putting this decision off for a while, call me at 602-456-9388 before the lower inventory results in higher prices.