For the 2020 June Market Update, we are seeing some price dropping, about $7/sqft from last month. But that’s not the big news.

Michael Orr of the Cromford Report says in his latest update that this market is changing very quickly and we are starting to see some gathering storm clouds on the horizon:

“Active listings dropped only 3.9% from last month, but active listings without a contract fell over 15%. This tells us that a large chunk of the available supply went under contract during May and very little was replaced by new inventory. It is therefore getting much harder for buyers to find the home they want and when they find it, they are likely to find many other buyers trying to buy the same house. Multiple offers are piling up. The huge recovery in demand is confirmed by the under contract count which surged over 31% over the month of May and now stands 4.5% higher than this time last year.”

Anecdotally, we are seeing strong sales under $400,000. Our listings under that price went very quickly.

Regardless, if you look at the Cromford Report and the Supply & Demand charts, we still have a way to go from this point going into the June Market before the conditions are right for serious price drops.

It is particularly notable that the Cromford Index turning upward again. For those of you who are new to this blog, the Cromford Index is a measure of whether it is a seller’s market (above 100) or a buyer’s market (below 100), and by how much.

The Index is a really good predictor of where things are going to go. Expect prices to stay stable, or go up as we recover from this calamity.

I think this demonstrates what we said last month: that the reduced demand matched the reduced supply and prices stayed the same in the June market. Now that we are opening up a bit, people are buying. Until more properties come on the market, watch for prices to stay high.

Orr also expresses concerns about the continued impact of COVID-19:

“So the Greater Phoenix housing market proved its resilience over the last 3 months and short term trends strongly favor sellers. However what about those ominous dark clouds? There are several. First, COVID-19 has not gone away, in fact the global infection rate is currently hitting new peaks. The USA as a whole is seeing a slow fall in new cases, but Arizona is not. The weekly new case count for Arizona on June 2 was 4,467, the highest yet reported and more than doubled from a week ago. This is not a second wave. The first wave has not peaked yet and is currently growing at the fastest rate since April 4.”

An even bigger cloud for the housing market and a medium-term threat to its stability is the fact that so many people have stopped paying their mortgage or their rent. This would not be a problem if they started paying them again soon. But what if they have lost their job and have little saved to fall back on? With unemployment around 20%, the threat that many tenants will be evicted is very high. It is a less immediate problem, but some home-owners will receive Notices of Trustee Sale over the next 12 months because of damage to their income and thus their ability to pay their mortgage. This will probably include landlords who cannot pay their mortgage because their tenants cannot pay their rent.

What’s the long and short of it? If you are thinking of selling, you are in a strong position and may be for a while (unless unemployment persists and people cannot purchase homes).

If you are thinking of buying, don’t expect prices to drop any time soon.

In light of the pandemic, and the lack of group activities or events, here are some links that we hope will be helpful to you as we fight this pandemic in June.

If you missed our list from May, see here.

Stay safe. Stay healthy!

1) Our Commitment to Community. Both Michelle and I were shocked and saddened by yet another death of a black man at the hands of police. We are not just talking about George Floyd, but also Dion Johnson. The data showing how law enforcement and the judicial system treats people of color differently has been known for a long time, but not by enough people. There are many studies. Here is one to get you started, if you have not already been aware. Here’s a great story about how a Republican Senator experienced it. The Department of Justice under several presidents has been collecting data on this, year after year. Michelle and I are standing up for fairness and equality. We are attending protests, contacting our elected officials and shopping at locally-owned, black-owned businesses. We hope you will join us.

2) Energy Savings in the Summer. As we go in to the summer, and as many people have less money at their disposal than they did a few months ago, there are things that you can do to save on your utility bills. Some things require spending a little, but you will see a return on investment soon. Other things will save you money with just smart planning.

Look at the APS, TEP and SRP websites for tools on saving energy.

Getting utilities to offer tips and rebates on products in support of energy efficiency is like pulling teeth. They want to sell more power, not less. But we need them to generate less if we want to protect our lungs and our planet. The effort to require utilities to help you save money is called “demand side management.”

The more you know…

3) Downtown Phoenix Farmer’s Market Goes Online. The downtown market, for which we raise money at the Phoestivus Market, is adapting to COVID-19 in June with a new on-line on-line market.

I know. It’s not the same as perusing the stalls and smelling the fresh bread. But that’s shopping in the time of COVID. Well, you can still go to the market on Saturdays, but they are spread out to protect you. Still, as it gets hotter out, it gets harder for vendors to stay out in the heat waiting for you.

This way you can order ahead and pick up what you need, while still supporting the many vendors and local farmers.

4) Innovative Ways to Re-open. Local First Arizona, which has been standing strong with small, local businesses since the pandemic began, published this handy article on innovative ways to attract business as you re-open safely in June.

It includes things like creating a virtual tip jar for employees, which raised $40,000 at one local business. Local business support app, Hownd, is helping businesses sell vouchers, which can be used later, but which help businesses pay current bills.

Don’t miss their Small Business Re-opening Resources, as well. Please share this with your friends and family who are looking to re-open safely.

5) The Return of the Drive-In. Are you old enough to remember the drive-in? What nostalgia! Well, COVID has helped bring them back, at least temporarily.

The City of Phoenix has compiled a nice list of places you can go to see movies from your car, but still maintain physical distance.

I love the innovation! This will be handy when I’m going stir crazy, but don’t feel like getting on the I-17
“parking lot” to the north country.

Donna Reiner, a local historian and a good friend of Get Your PHX, has written many articles over the years for the Arizona Republic and others about Phoenix history and memorials. This month, she is sharing her article on turn-of-the (20th) century doctor, Nello Greenlee.

We use her services when we list properties of historic significance to help us tell the stories behind the homes.

We are happy that Donna is allowing us to re-publish some of her articles on a monthly basis. If you or your business ever needs a historian, let Donna know at laydeescholar “at” hotmail.com.

Sixteen years ago, the Phoenix Historic Preservation Office initiated several surveys of the cultural history of Phoenix. One group of researchers worked on compiling as comprehensive a history of the African-American community as possible. But some people were “missed.”

Nello Birthpath Greenlee was born in Asheville, North Carolina in 1886. Nothing is known about his childhood, but he did attend the University of West Tennessee College of Medicine and Surgery in Memphis where he received his medical degree in 1914.

Another blank period of Greenlee’s history followed that graduation with mentions of him in the New York City area unearthed in newspaper articles. By 1917, he was commissioned a 2^nd Lt. in the Army Officer Reserve Corps. He served in Company B367 Infantry which was a segregated unit in the 92^nd Division. Shipped overseas to France in 1918, Greenlee’s group fought in the Battle of Meuse-Argonne where he probably was exposed to the toxic gases used in the battle which his unit oversaw.

Following his discharge in 1919, Dr. Greenlee moved to the Chicago area where he eventually worked for several years as a house surgeon at the Ft. Dearborn Hospital in Chicago and also spent some time in the U. S. Government service as a physician in charge of narcotic cases.

Dr. N. B. Greenlee then moved to Los Angeles, California where he may have heard about Dr. W.C. Hackett’s newly founded Booker T. Washington Memorial Hospital. Greenlee and his wife, Dixie, arrived in Phoenix in probably 1924. He applied and received his Arizona medical license in January 1925, joining Dr. Hackett on staff at Booker T. Washington Hospital and also forming a private practice.

The Hacketts sold the Greenlees the lot in the Collins Addition where the Greenlees would reside. The Phoenix Tribune, a prominent newspaper in the Phoenix African-American community described the new home in glowing terms: a $10,000 palatial nine-room two-story home which was eventually painted white. The home would also have steam heat, a roof garden, and other modern conveniences found in rather expensive homes.

According to the newspapers of the time, Greenlee was quite the prominent person in the community. As a veteran, he joined the William F. Blake American Legion Post No. 40 and quickly became the post commander. He also invested in a lot of property and drove a stunning Pierce Arrow.

Tragically Greenlee’s health apparently suffered from that WWI gas exposure and he spent extended periods of time at the National Soldier’s Home in Sawtelle, California. During one of his confinements in California in 1933, his wife Dixie committed suicide citing despondency over financial losses. A year later, Greenlee committed suicide in Phoenix. The story of Dr. Nello B Greenlee ended then and he was eventually forgotten. Amazingly his “palatial” house remains.

I’ve been reading about a concept called “just transition” and I thought it would make a great policy blog post.

Just transition refers to investing in the people and infrastructure that used to be deployed around coal fired power plants and mines, and helping them to transition to new jobs, industries and infrastructure in a way that is just and respects the generations-worth of sacrifices that they made so we could have reliable power.

We see it a lot around “coal country”, back east. In Arizona, this is particularly important in Navajo and Hopi land.

But, let’s first dig in to a few things that are important to know.

First, coal is more expensive than natural gas, hydroelectric and nuclear power. That is not going to change.

Solar PV and wind is also competitive with natural gas for big power plants (as opposed to on your home). See page three of the last link for a great table. See this article for a good summary.

It is now competitive, often cheaper and will definitely be cheaper than almost all other options in the next few year –that is even when you add the cost of batteries to store power when the wind is now blowing and the sun is not shining.

Good ol’ market pricing: it’s is why coal plants have been closing and another 13 will close in 2020.

So, let’s retire the old debates about whether renewable energy is a good investment or not. It’s settled. Let’s save money and clean the air.

But, we are left with a fairness issue: what do we do with all of those communities that worked so hard to mine the coal and run the plants that gave us all convenient power for the last century?

This is particularly acute when you consider that utilities are closing down coal plants almost over night (by power plant standards), as they look at the cost of coal fuel vs the cost of no fuel (sun and wind).

In other words, coal-centric communities thought they had decades to find new industries, jobs and re-build infrastructure. But they don’t.

While it’s a good and necessary thing that we leave fossil fuels as quickly as possible, we need to be responsible for those communities.

Here is an inspiring video from Eastern Kentucky about how groups there fostered non-partisan conversations about how to approach just transition, and how to pay for it.

But, let’s turn our attention to Arizona, where Navajo Generating Station was recently closed down with little warning. Here’s a great blog post from a man who has been working on energy issues for decades. It gives you a great perspective on how we got to this situation.

In short, utilities since the 1940s built dirty, polluting power plants on tribal land for the purpose of powering mostly Phoenix and pumping water up-hill so that we could have more golf courses and grow high-water use cotton in the desert.

They made promises back then to the Navajo and Hopi people of economic development if they would allow these power plants and mining on their land.

But little was delivered.

All the while, the coal plants were pumping dirty coal dust in the air, strip-mining sacred land and sucking millions of gallons out of the aquifer to cool the plants, all with insufficient protection against pollution.

So, what do we owe the people of this area? They lack basic infrastructure because the investment that was promised never came. In fact, we have seen recently how the lack of infrastructure on Navajo and Hopi land have made them a hot spot for COVID-19.

You think that’s just because Navajo and Hopi governments are inefficient? Well, nobody is perfect, but if you think that, contact me and I’ll go in to great detail how Arizona state tax code seriously undermines tribal ability to invest in infrastructure, like roads, schools, water and power.

Did you know that thousands homes in the Navajo Nation sit within view of massive utility power lines, yet have no power? It is a third-world-level problem in our own state.

Whew.

Okay. That’s a lot to take in.

Lemme take a breath.

Then I want to tell you how great the Navajo and Hopi future can be, if we plan responsibly right now.

Here’s a great column from one of the owners of a new, Navajo-owned renewable energy development company called Navajo Power.

The columnist is very specific about what needs to be done. We need to support tribal development and ownership of the power plants which send us electricity. Rather than building dirty plants and sending profits to Phoenix or out of state, we need to help tribes build plants from which they can profit and build the infrastructure that they were promised 70 years ago.

Have a look at this column from GreenBiz.com about the details of a plan to sell solar energy to Los Angeles Power and Light.

We can do that through just transition.

The utilities can build two things in to their future plans: the purchase of power from tribe-owned renewable energy power companies and funds to help with transition. These funds will help remediate the open sores left from strip mining coal, build water and power infrastructure and get energy projects off the ground.

Look, we all have a strong sense of fairness, regardless of where we are on the political spectrum.

When you understand what Hope and Navajo people have been through, I’m convinced that you will agree that we can to a lot tomorrow with just a little investment today to right the wrongs of yesterday.

In light of the pandemic, and the lack of group activities or events, here are some links that we hope will be helpful to you as we fight this pandemic.

If you missed our list from April, see here.

Stay safe. Stay healthy!

1) Helping Those Less Fortunate. We know undocumented immigrants pay more than their fair share of taxes*, yet these working families are not eligible for any of the funding meant to support people in this time of need.

Regardless of where you stand on the immigration debate, I hope you can agree that it is good policy to encourage people to stay home. For that to happen, people need help paying their bills –regardless of where they are from.

The Arizona Community Foundation is collecting a relief fund to help. I just donated and I hope you will, too. We contributed!

*IRS estimates that 6M undocumented immigrants file a tax return and pay taxes. New American Economy estimates that they pay $20B in federal taxes and Inst. on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates about $11.64B in state and local taxes

2) Governor’s Executive Order. You’ve been hearing a bunch about the Governor’s Executive Order about sheltering in place and keeping a safe distance.

But, have you read it?

Well, I would not blame you if you have not. It’s long. But this update is shorter. And, if you want to see the changes that are going in to affect this week, from the horses mouth, here is the place to look.

I think the thing to remember in all of this is that the virus does not follow our laws. If we all start congregating and organizing group hugs, more people will die. As they say, “follow Fauci” when it comes to the science and public health.

I have confidence that we can adapt to our new (and temporary) normal. We are a bunch of smarties. So, let’s do that!

3) Local First Continues Support for Local Businesses. When the pandemic started, Local First jumped in to high gear. They have stayed there and will probably do so through the pandemic.

When you are thinking of what restaurants to support and local businesses to shop from, please add locals to your list.

Also, if you need support for your business, have a look at their website for all kinds of tools.

4) Local Closure News and Tours. The City of Phoenix has a web page dedicated to giving you updates on local closures and emergency regulations that the City has in place to help us all.

It was also a nice surprise to see that they are flexing their ingenuity muscles with virtual tours of certain landmarks around the city. They have lists of activities to do at home with your kids, and all kinds of goodies.

They even have recipes from your favorite restaurants. Get that?

For all the talk of a bad market, all of the properties that we brought on since the economy began to shut down in mid-March have either sold and closed or are in escrow.

As you will see in our June Market Update, there is still a shortage of listings in the market, as there was before the start of the pandemic. There are still people who need homes!

Have a look at our listings page here to see what we have –both already sold and active.

If you have been thinking of selling, I think that we can confidently predict that you will do fine now if you list.

If you are thinking of buying, don’t be surprised if prices start moving back up again.

The first one we listed is a one-bedroom condo at the mid-century Nonpareil condo complex at 11th Ave and Osborn. This is shady, well maintained, updated and so convenient to the Sprouts, Safeway and restaurants about 500 meters away.

The second one is a 3br/3ba, 1,852sf property on a 9,135sf lot with a pool, custom play area, lots of updates, a workshop and tons of storage. That had multiple offers in just two days!

Our premium property is a unique 6br/4ba, 3,036sf property with a garage on a 9,304sf lot in the Medlock Historic neighborhood. The owner made extensive renovations to open up the floor plan, to the kitchen, bathrooms and flooring. This home should close in early July.

I gotta say, we really expected this one to sit on the market for longer, but it

Stay tuned, as we expect to see more properties come on the market in the next month or so!

It is tough to talk about possible silver linings to a pandemic, especially while so many people are suffering. The reality is that this is tough for so many people.

Yet there is much discussion out there right now about whether this terrible situation might lead to changed behavior on the societal scale.

In this context, the things that are causing us to work differently might not only clean our air, but also lead to advances in efforts to prevent climate change.

Let’s start by looking at Phoenix air quality, over-all. That National Lung Association just presented their annual State of the Air report last month, in which they listed Phoenix as one of the worst places for air quality.

Ozone and particulate pollution comes from a mix of gases from cars, burning chemicals and wood and dust. When it mixes in the heat of the sun, it creates cancer-causing effects, asthma and possibly even dementia.

Phoenix has historically been terrible in this regard. The long-term political resistance to discouraging driving, to supporting mass transit, to urban planning, to planting more trees and to discouraging the use of wood burning at homes have all fed this problem.

This is our base-line. Any possible affects from changed behavior resulting from the pandemic won’t be recorded for a while. Sure, we see ozone levels lower over the last month. But, this is a problem caused by decades of behavior and will require long-term changes.

What we want to watch for is whether people will feel and remember the benefits they had when they stayed home to work and noticed the cleaner air. That is where the ozone silver lining comes in.

Right, you did not want to stay home for as long as you did. You did not want kids yelling in your ear while you are trying to maintain professionalism on a Zoom conference call.

But also, what have you been doing with that time that you don’t spend in your car and in traffic? I’ve heard so many inspiring stories from people about how they’ve re-connected with their personal time.

But, what would the city look like if 50% of office workers asked to work from home just two days more than they do now? We know we can do it and we can feel the benefits

The silver linings for climate change comes in a different way. It comes in directing federal stimulus money to investments in clean energy.

I think people would rather see stimulus money go to clean energy choices, which can save them money on energy, than to the deep pockets of CEOs of oil companies.

On one hand, the issue of the environment may drop on people’s minds as they worry about pandemic responses. Further, according to this article, “On Capitol Hill, the pandemic could threaten the fragile politics of environmental regulation and the Republican Party’s rapidly changing climate beliefs.”

Further, the pandemic could also undermine our ability to get out and prevent wildfires this summer.

But, as the previous article points out, there may be hope in all of this. According to Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Florida), “And if one silver linings can be seen through all of this, it’s the fact that we can work together and mobilize to confront a threat to our way of life in America and all across the globe.”

Articles I’ve seen point to an increasing trust of science and scientists. That trust may increase, as it should, when it comes to climate change and its solutions.

Further, I know from my conversations with people that they like the idea that Americans are coming together to solve a common problem. After COVID-19, our clean air and climate change problems will still be there, ready for us to unite around.

This article from Wired Magazine points to some of the unexpected consequences of how our fuel choices have changed over the last two months. Auto fuel usage has dropped and electricity usage has gone down as economic activity has dropped. Yet, with cheap prices for petrol comes less of an incentive to recycle plastic.

Yet, all of this leads to a unique opportunity to re-think our cities. Some cities have taken this opportunity to close more downtown streets to cars in favor of more bike and pedestrian traffic.

Just like with ozone levels, when we come out the other end of this crisis, the more people remember and feel the benefits of less drive time, the more we can all imagine a world in which we permanently have cleaner air and a reduced threat of climate change.

And those are some nice silver livings.

Donna Reiner, a local historian and a good friend of Get Your PHX, has written many articles over the years for the Arizona Republic and others about Phoenix history and memorials. This month, she is sharing her article on dancing joints throughout Phoenix history.

We use her services when we list properties of historic significance to help us tell the stories behind the homes.

We are happy that Donna is allowing us to re-publish some of her articles on a monthly basis. If you or your business ever needs a historian, let Donna know at laydeescholar “at” hotmail.com.

What did Phoenicians do for fun during the summer months when there was no TV, a few movie theaters, and dining out might be too expensive?

Riverside Park, near the Salt River just off Central, was established in 1914 to cover all those needs. It had places for children to play, picnic areas for families, a large pool, and a DANCE Pavilion. Later on, athletic events were held at Riverside. Certainly, entertainment for all ages was the key focus of this park. But we’re going to focus on dancing. So grab your dancin’ shoes, as it’s time to get your body moving.

Phoenicians eagerly awaited the opening of Riverside Park each May. The owners, Rickards and Nace (who also owned a number of movie theaters in the area), made sure that the park was ready, the bands were booked, and the newspaper announced the opening day. Dancing was available during the day and also in the evening to appeal to different age groups and accommodate the crowds. And what a great place to, fingers crossed, meet your future spouse to the tunes of some well-known band.

The success of Riverside Park probably influenced the growth of other places for open-air dancing. Evergreen Park on South 7^th Avenue was also near the river. It was in operation from 1928-1933. The Orange Grove Pavilion was on 7^th Street near Glendale Avenue. It opened in 1930 and closed in 1945.

The Plantation Ballroom located at 2300 East Washington started in 1932. Henry S. Gibbs, Sr., the owner, also owned the Willow Breeze on Lateral 14 (27^th Avenue) and Christy Road (McDowell).

One of the Plantation Ballroom’s “claim” to fame was when it burned down in 1952. Ralph Painter, Jr. of Channel 5 (KPHO) shot film becoming “Arizona’s first television news cameraman in the field.”

While the Plantation Ballroom was indoors, the Willow Breeze was open-air and many remember its string lights. Families were welcome there even into the 1950s.

By the 1960s, dance places began to cater to certain age groups and/or specific types of music. Mr. Lucky’s opened in 1966 (originally the owners wanted a casino). Rock and roll was on one floor and country western was upstairs. The Hullabaloo, designed as a teen club, was built on the formerT site of the Broadway Pool in 1967.

The Arizona Republic even ran listings on dine and dance spots throughout the valley. The locations varied from hotels to stand alone sites. Today, you can still grab your dancing shoes and find a spot where you can hit the floor and move about. Yes, dancing has never ceased to be a fun way to spend the evening anytime of the year.

For the May Market Update we continue to watch the affects of the pandemic.

People always ask me when home prices will be slashed, like they were in 2008. I continue to say that, while that may happen many months from now if the economy does not recover, that is not likely to happen any time soon.

Yeah, that seems counter-intuitive, right? I’m not just being one of those agents who is trying to “wish” the market higher. Michelle and I work just as hard when prices are low as when they are high.

So, let’s look at why prices are this way, with the help of our friends at the Cromford Report. Here are the several points to keep in mind.

1) While the Cromford Index is taking a steep dive, it is still above where it was last year, this time.

Also look at this graph. I turned on the lines for 2008 and 2009, when the Cromford Index was at its lowest point during the Great Recession.

While this current drop is dramatic, we have a long way to go before we see a buyer’s market, due to the huge shortage that we had last year.

Remember, the Cromford Index needs to drop below 100 for depreciation to begin. Between here and there, appreciation may slow, but prices will still increase at a rate greater than inflation.

The Cromford Index is a measure of advantage. Above 100 is seller advantage. Below 100 is buyer advantage. Between 90 and 110 is equilibrium. So this means specifically that, while prices may be coming down for current listings, as long as the Cromford Index is above 110, average prices will increase greater than inflation.

2) Even though demand has gone down the last month, so has supply.

So, that relative imbalance between supply and demand is certainly moving in the right direction for prices to eventually reach equilibrium, they won’t as long as there is a shortage of supply.

Every indication we have now is that supply is not going to increase any time soon. If buyers re-enter the market later this year if the economy starts to recover, that lack of supply will still be a problem until sellers decide to begin listing their properties in pretty significant numbers.

Buyers are taking a pause, worrying about the economy, and so are sellers.

The number of new listings has plateaued. So, again, if the number of listings coming on has slowed at the same time that the number of buyers has slowed, then the supply/demand curve will keep prices relatively where they are now.

We are seeing this playing out anecdotally on our listings. Two out of three of the new listings that we’ve listed since the start of the pandemic went under contract within a few days. They did not have to drop their prices and there were multiple offers.

3) Affordability is still at normal levels.

It is important to note that, even with this odd space we are in, houses are still within the normal range of affordability, at least valley-wide.

So, what does this mean? It means, as we often say, if you need a house buy a house. If you need to sell a house, sell a house. The real estate market is not the stock market and it does not behave the same way.

The governor is opening up some social distancing rules, and I predict that there will be some pent-up demand as people get back to normal. 

As we go in to the summer and people adapt more to social distancing rules, etc., we will see more (but not all) sectors of the economy regain at least some activity.

I believe very strongly that, as the economy begins to recover, and as people act on their pent-up energy, we will see the same scarcity in the Central Phoenix area that we were dealing with before the pandemic.

We just need to get through this together. Stay safe. Stay at a distance. Listen to scientists and doctors.

And, of course, call us if you have questions about how this may affect your particular plans. 602-456-9388.

We’ve been checking in more regularly on the market, of course. This market watch is supporting what Michael Ore of the Cromford Report was predicting, as reported in our last regular market update.

Here are some highlights of that:

The valley housing market has changed much less than you might expect.

While there have been some negative trends, sales prices are still rising and the affects have been lesser than other economic sectors.

Comparing April 1 of this year to April 1 of last year:

• Active Listings (excluding UCB & CCBS): 13,211 versus 18,650 last year – down 29.2% – but up 20.1% from 11,003 last month
• Under Contract Listings (including Pending, CCBS & UCB): 10,152 versus 11,707 last year – down 13.3% – and down 15.3% from 11,988 last month
• Monthly Sales: 8,840 versus 8,489 last year – up 4.1% – and up 18.2% from 7,476 last month
• Monthly Average Sales Price per Sq. Ft.: $186.47 versus $172.01 last year – up 8.4% – and up 0.8% from $184.94 last month

In summary, supply went up, demand came down, sales remained strong and prices went up.

So, look at this market watch chart. It is showing that list prices are coming down over the last few weeks, which makes sense. People are worried. But the key here is that sales prices are still going up.

If that does not speak to what is going on in the market, I don’t know what does. There is still scarcity and people still need homes.

At the very least, predictions that the real estate market will crash like the stock market are simply not turning out to be true.