As you might guess, March was an insane month.
Everybody was jumping for that tax credit. There were almost 9,000 sales of homes & condos in the Phoenix metro area in March, which was the 2nd highest March sales month ever.
The median sales price in March was higher than March 2009, making it the first year-over-year increase since July 2006.
Let me say that again for all y’all (CNN!) who think price prices are still falling. That is higher than March 2009.
This is raw data from the multi-listing service. This is reported as it happens. When I close on a house, the system shows that close. Nobody can tamper with it. No third party interpretation. (CNN!)
As of April 20, there are 22,684 properties currently under contract, an all-time high.
Active listings in MLS are 34,064, down 24% since April 2009.
Want to see how things are going in your neighborhood? Check out this link to see this new feature I have. It is a free market trends analysis. After clicking on the image, you can scroll down to find your zip code and then it will show you active listings, sales per month, price per square foot, & foreclosure data for the past year.
Here is what I predict will happen in May: People will start getting back to normal buying patterns.
Source: Businessweek
We will spend the first three weeks of May waiting for this mythical “shadow inventory” to arrive, and it won’t.* Once we see that prices are not taking a downward spiral, people will start doing what they usually do. They will move if they need to move. They will buy a house if they need to buy.
There will be two types of buyers that come on the market first. 1) Those who have jobs but did not buy previously because they were afraid that they were about to lose their jobs. Now that economic indicators are turning up, they will feel more secure in their jobs and they will go ahead and buy. 2) Those who recognize that prices actually have been going up over the last year and that this is the best time to grab a new home or an upgrade before interest rates go up.
I’m happy to help you with your buying and selling decisions. Please give me a call at 602-456-9388 for more information.
*As you may recall from my previous posts, I don’t see this happening. There are many houses that are foreclosed or awaiting to foreclose, but the banks will not depress prices by throwing lots of inventory on the market all at once.
**Thanks, Leif Swanson (www.leifswanson.com) for contribution of market data.