In March, the Phoenix Metropolitan Real Estate Market experience more good news after a slow start in January. The results were slight but encouraging. In 2013 the real estate market was very strong for the first three quarters, slowing down in final quarter. January was very quiet. Some of these trends can be traced to seasonal norms that we have been experiencing for the past ten years, but primarily it was the result of a correction from a hyper-driven market to one that is much more reasonable and sustainable.
Home sales increased 22.6% in March compared with February. We closed on 6,712 properties in the Phoenix Metro area, that is a decrease of 17.7% compared with the same period last year.
New inventory of recently listed homes increased by 8.8% to 10,557 properties. The number of homes currently listed for sale rose by .9% to 29,939. This is a large increase of 44.4% compared with the same period in 2013. With sales increasing again we dropped for a second month to 4.46 Months Supply of Inventory. Our market is almost in equilibrium between buyers and sellers.
New list prices dipped slightly in March but they are still considerably higher than in March 2013. The average list price has increased 8.9% in the past twelve months to $308,100; the median list price increased 15.9% to $220,000. The average sales price was $248,800, a increase of $6,400 from February. The Days on Market decreased by three days to 83.
With prices of homes climbing rapidly in the past several years, investors have fled the Phoenix real estate market. As reported by Fletcher Wilcox of the Grand Canyon Title Agency, “cash purchases during the first quarter – about 3.500 local homes – plunged 38% from the same period last year”. As a result the decline in the sales volume exists almost entirely in homes purchased for less than $200,000, clearly demonstrating the decline in investment activity in our market. The change in the Phoenix housing market was inevitable, as prices increased most entry level residential investors have moved to other cites changing the demand for the current inventory. This is good news for existing investment home owners, reduced supply of rental properties in the future.
“Now is a great time to own real estate in Phoenix!”