Seller’s Market You Say?

Let me start by saying, I love conversations about real estate. As I look at real estate market data almost daily, I like to think I have a very good grasp on what’s happening in the Phoenix Metro market. Or at least I’d hope so, right? Lately I’ve had or overheard numerous conversations about what kind of market we are in. They range from “buy now, it’s a buyers market, your going to get the best deal ever, yadda yadda yadda” to “the market still has a long way to fall and we are going to wait until a great deal comes along.” Both opinions I can respect. My intentions with the upcoming market data is to inform and educate. I will put my spin on the data to ensure a clear message comes out of each, but I’ll try to keep the rhetoric to a minimum. 

It’s interesting to see where we get our real estate information these days. Websites likeZillow and Trulia (which The Drummond Group does subscribe) can be helpful tools in getting market data and trends but in a very rapidly moving market, where 11,000 homes are selling in a month (i.e. Phoenix June 2011) how can the data actually hurt us as buyers versus help? I love the online aptitude most of my clients bring to the table when we meet for the first time. It makes the process a lot easier and ultimately I feel they have the best chance of finding their dream home if they can actually see what’s on the market. Getting back to Truliaand Zillow, the information provided can help with historical data and tell me what happened a couple months ago but an aide in making pricing choices it is not.

As of September 14, 2011, 27,013 active listings are on the market in Phoenix Metro area. As a reference, at this time last year, we had more than 44,000 active listings on the market. So far this year 99,032 homes have sold in the Phoenix Metro since the beginning of 2011. At this point last year less than 92,000 homes had sold. For people trying to buy a home right now, the market is definitely more scarce than it was a year ago. Why? Inventory in Phoenix Metro is currently at just over three months supply. Last year it was almost at seven months supply. A stable market in our area is between 5-6 months supply. These numbers indicate we are in a sellers market, a weird sellers market, where prices are still pretty low, but a sellers market none the less.