March Market Update
The March 2020 Market Update continues to show a market with a shortage of listings, a condition which is likely to persist until June, at least.
According to our friends at the Cromford Report:
For Buyers:
Supply continues to drop as the market heats up with the seasonal rush of Buyers. Typically we would see supply rising at this time of year as January is a strong month for new listings to hit the market. However this year new listings year-to-date are down 17% from last year and January 2020 had the lowest number of new listings recorded going all the way back to 2001. Combine this with a 21% increase in sales volume and the 4th highest January recorded for MLS sales, and it’s no surprise that supply is plummeting.
While supply is down in all price points, it’s felt the most between $200K-$250K. Supply in this price range is nearly 60% lower than this time last year and a quarter of sales in the last 3 months have recorded over asking price.
Seller-paid closing cost concessions are also down. Nearly 22% of all sales in the 1st Quarter to date have included some form of seller-paid or assisted closing costs. That’s the lowest percentage recorded in nearly 5 years.
For Sellers:
The luxury market continues to go gangbusters in 2020. Sales over $1 Million in 2019 outperformed 2018 by 10%, which makes it the #1 year for in Greater Phoenix in this price range. January closings were up 52% in this price and listings under contract are up 43%.
….and back to Get Your PHX and our comments on the March update.
Anecdotally, we have clients looking daily at every possible purchase that pops up.
There are often multiple offers and don’t get me started on the number of truly terrible flips I’ve seen recently.
We spoke to an owner/agent who bought a house for about $275,000 and put maybe $15,000 worth of work in to it –although he claimed he put twice as much in to it. He had it as a pocket listing. So, it was not on the MLS.
He then said he would not sell for less than about $330,000 because, “we can just rent it to the medical residents downtown.”
Comps showed that the property is not worth more than about $280,000, if you could actually show that they did the work. They bought it late last year! It’s only March, and I’m supposed to believe the price went up $60,000, with little renovation to show for it?
Ugh. Just ugh!
It comes down to this: if you are thinking of selling your property, it is crucial that you have agents who know how to spot the lemons and advise you to stay away from them.
Call us at 602-456-9388 and let’s talk strategy.
