Market Overview For Maricopa County - March

Average Sales Analysis:
Sellers:
We have been watching this statistic very carefully to determine if the increase in average sales price was just a blip or a trend.  From all indications, we can now see a trend, and that we hit the bottom of the market in August.  Since then, we have seen a 20.8% increase in the average sales price.  March saw an 8.97% increase over the month of February. This is the highest price we have seen since June of 2010! The average sales price increased from $172,603 to $188,088.It will be important to monitor the impact this trend begins to have on appraisals and finding qualified buyers at these higher prices.
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Buyers:
For buyers, it is absolutely critical to be aware of this shift in the price of homes.
This increase means that buyers once again have less buying power than they did in the prior month.
There is no doubt that the low inventory has created competition for the current inventory, and that this high demand is impacting prices.More than ever, you need to work with your real estate professional
to make sure you have the best possible information regarding the market value of homes
and to carefully monitor this trend to see how it will impact the availability, pricing,
and terms associated with purchasing a home

Distressed Sales Analysis:
A bank owned/foreclosure home is one that the seller no longer owns – it has been taken over by the lender(s) who had a note on the home.  Short sales are homes where the seller is negotiating with the bank to “forgive” a portion of the debt in order to avoid foreclosure. 

March statistics show that the pieces of the pie are definitely continuing to shift toward a more traditional market-- March bank-owned sales decreased by 2%. Short sales decreased by 2%, and traditional sales INCREASED by 4%.

This statistic means that the competition from foreclosure properties continues to decrease while traditional sales from sellers with equity continue to increase the percentage of activity in our current market. Sellers and buyers need to monitor this trend to see how the market continues to respond to the current inventory.

Pending Sales Analysis:
Sellers:
Pending sales continue to increase.  March saw another increase in the number of sales moving to pending status – a staggering 9.3% increase over the month of February.  Although this isn’t the highest number of properties moving to pending status in the 36 months, it is important to remember that there is much less inventory now, meaning that a much higher % of properties are moving to pending status. Sellers should continue to monitor these numbers to determine what type of activity there should be on their homes. This jump in pending sales should show up as an increase in closed sales over the next few months.

Buyers:
Buyer activity continues to remain very high as the available inventory decreases in today’s market.  Educated and savvy buyers understand that a competitive market gives them fewer options for home choices, negotiating on price AND looking for concessions from a seller.  Although this may vary from area to area AND from price range to price range, buyers need to make sure they are fully informed regarding the individual market in which they have an interest.  This will give them the best chance of being competitive in the search for a home.

							MARCH	2012
MARCH OVERVIEW				# of Expired & Cancelled listings	1 month averages------------------------------------------------------------------
Price range 1,000s	# of Active listings	# of Pendings & AWC	Pending Ratio		# of Closings Last month	Average List Price of Sold Homes	Average Sold Price	List to Sales Price Ratio	Days on Market (Agent)	Days on Market (Cumul)
0 - 99,999	1,671	6,274	375.5%	545	2,621	$             65,768	$           66,007	100.4%	76	83
100,000- 124,999	643	2,092	325.3%	155	909	$           113,697	$         111,491	98.1%	69	75
125,000- 149,999	791	2,170	274.3%	167	913	$           137,985	$         135,734	98.4%	66	75
150,000- 174,999	639	1,490	233.2%	101	623	$           162,040	$         159,170	98.2%	73	85
175,000- 199,999	713	1,127	158.1%	100	562	$           188,236	$         183,247	97.3%	80	90
200,000- 224,999	463	729	157.5%	69	311	$           212,946	$         208,294	97.8%	81	94
225,000- 249,999	598	782	130.8%	70	355	$           237,289	$         231,413	97.5%	75	85
250,000- 299,999	963	998	103.6%	127	476	$           275,535	$         267,227	97.0%	100	112
300,000- 349,999	707	611	86.4%	88	273	$           325,948	$         315,558	96.8%	87	101
350,000- 399,999	655	475	72.5%	93	213	$           375,032	$         361,893	96.5%	102	122
400,000- 449,999	417	258	61.9%	58	116	$           428,929	$         414,755	96.7%	111	117
450,000- 499,999	366	198	54.1%	53	110	$           477,204	$         458,768	96.1%	100	120
500,000- 749,999	929	441	47.5%	95	216	$           606,668	$         578,282	95.3%	111	129
750,000- 999,999	564	166	29.4%	51	73	$           858,497	$         818,871	95.4%	182	199
1 million +	1,182	177	15.0%	97	90	$       2,132,238	$     1,749,010	82.0%	234	260