May Market News

As of the writing of this newsletter, the Cromford Report has not come out with its review of April, which usually comes out about now.

But we have some data coming from mid-April. In short, we are seeing prices up since March, but still lower than they were this time last year.

The number of active listings is up from last year, but trending down since the beginning of this year. That is why you are starting to see quicker offers coming in for those homes. The demand for homes seems to be somewhat inelastic, despite high interest rates.

From the folks at Cromford: “For the monthly period ending April 15, we are currently recording a sales $/SF of $279.64 averaged for all areas and types across the ARMLS database. This is up 2.4% from the $273.05 we now measure for March 15.”

“On April 15 the pending listings for all areas & types show an average list $/SF of $301.22, up 0.3% from the reading for March 15. Among those pending listings we have 99.3% normal, 0.1% in REOs and 0.5% in pre-foreclosures. This is similar to the last 2 months. We still have very few foreclosures appearing.”

So, what does this mean for you?

Well, if you are selling, be sure to spruce up your place and put your best foot forward. These are not the days where you can sell anything in any condition. But if you present well and price well, you will get offers.

If you are buying, you might want to get in before the Federal Reserve announces that it will no longer raise interest rates, which we think will come in the next few months. We think that, as soon as they do that, lots of buyers will re-enter the market with the plan to grab what they can and refinance in a couple years.

People are still moving to Arizona and that won’t change any time soon.