If You're Looking to Buy in Phoenix, Don't Wait!

You no doubt have heard the expressions "in the blink of an eye" or "sitting on the fence." Well, for the last year or more, the latter is just what many people have been doing with regards to buying residential property in the greater Phoenix area. They've been waiting for prices to bottom out, the best interest rate and so on. The problem with waiting for the bottom to hit is that one can never quite predict when that will be; it's the same with stocks or interest rates.

And I've used the expression "in the blink of an eye" because the Phoenix housing market has changed just like that. For example, we had more than 54,000 residential listings available at the beginning of this year. As of this morning, we're at 27,860 in Maricopa County with 10,298 pending sales (under contract). Single family detached homes account for 21,111 of that larger figure.

With the increase in sales, we've also seen the median price for a home drop which means prices have stabilized to the point where investors and those looking for a primary residence feel prices are where they should be or "a good deal." We are seeing multiple offers on properties in the first few days they're on the market, oftentimes at higher than listing price creating bidding wars and driving prices up. Historical figures indicate that Phoenix housing prices double every 14 years, despite highs and lows in the market.

In the last few months, bank-owned properties have accounted for approximately 66% of these sales, short sales 10% and traditional sales the rest. A year ago, we had an 11 month supply of homes and now that has been reduced to about three and half months.

So if you're "sitting on the fence," it might be time to jump off and "get in the game."

For more details on home sales in a particular area, don't hesitate to contact me. I have lots of statistics plus "hands-on" knowledge of the Phoenix area housing market.