Phoenix Housing Market Update - March 2016
Long Term Trends
Inventory continued to increase in February which is a typical pattern we see each year. Total active listings are 21,176, that's a 4% decrease in inventory from a year ago. And we are slighlty above our 5 year average of 19,928 homes for sale in February.
Sales and demand are increasing and will continue that pattern over the next 3-4 months as we are in our peak selling season. Total sales for February was 5,696 which is a 3% decrease from a year ago. And sales volume is below our 5 year average of 6,132 sales for the month of February.
Median sales price for February was $213,00 which is approx 9.2% better than a year ago. This well above the 5 year average of $174,200 and shows us the radical improvement the market has made over the past 5 years.
Average days on market went up a bit from 79 in January to 82 in February. This is an improvement from a year ago when it was 94. The 5 year average is 85. These trend lines are normal and consistent with trends we see each year.
The average sold to list price for October was 95.8%, which is largely unchanged from the previous month. The 5 year average is 95.3%, so again we are seeing normal trend lines.
Short Term Trends
The most radical short term trend I can see is that New Contracts (pending sales) went up 17.4% from January to February. Total New Contracts written in February was 9,382, this is an increase of 7% from a year ago. This tells us that demand is extremely strong right now and getting stronger! Currently we have approx a 3.5 month supply of inventory on the market. March and April are typically the strongest months for sales volume every year and it appears to be that way again this year.
The market is favoring Sellers right now, however that may change once we get into July and August.
Download February 2016 Housing Report
Interest Rate Watch
A June Rate Hike Could be on the Horizon
Quote
Attributed to Sean Becketti, chief economist, Freddie Mac.
"The Federal Reserve's decision last week to maintain the current level of the Federal funds rate combined with the reduction in their forecast for growth triggered a 3-basis point drop in the 10-year Treasury yield. As a consequence, the 30-year mortgage rate declined 2 basis points to 3.71 percent. However, comments this week by several members of the Fed, including the presidents of the Richmond, San Francisco, and Atlanta banks, indicated that a June rate hike is still on the table."
Prepping Your Home For Sale - Step 1
