How Will a Shift in Rebuilding Communities Affect the Housing Market?

Posted by on Oct 4, 2017 in Bobs Blog | 0 comments

Living in the Phoenix area for essentially all of my life, I can’t imagine the destructive powers of hurricanes. Witnessing the tragic images of the ravages of Harvey, and then Irma, and finally Maria breaks my heart. Housing for all us is almost a primal need, a sanctuary from everything except our families. Because of the shift of labor and materials needed to rebuild these communities, real estate everywhere may be affected. Recent reports suggest that the delivery of new housing may drop while the cost of existing home remodeling may spike upwards. Projections of how all of this will impact the value of existing homes remains to be seen but the probability will be an increase in price.

The following information recaps sales in August. Generally our sales market is following what we would expect for August based on the trends we have observed so far in 2017. Sales are continuing to be strong while the number of homes being listed for sale is starting to edge up. By September, we will begin a cooling trend as fewer Buyers are shopping for homes. The key question will be what will Sellers do, will more homes be listed for sale; that is my guess.

In the Metropolitan Phoenix Area, sales increased 3.3% from July 2017 and are also increasing 3.4% compared with August 2016. New Inventory is up 10.3% from July, and has also increased 4.7% from 12 months ago. Total inventory of homes for sale is slightly down 0.4% from the month prior, while year-over-year reflects a decrease of 9.4%. Supply of inventory decreased from 2.74 to 2.65 months. The year-over-year median list price was up 3.4%. The average sales price increased 8.3% and the median sales price also rose by 6.5%. Pending foreclosures barely increased 0.01% from July and were down 23.3% from one year ago. Average Days on Market increased by 1 day compared with the month prior.

Please give me a call if you are interested in purchasing another investment home. We currently have only one property advertised For Rent. I don’t expect that property to last long. At that point, our “No Vacancy” sign will turn on again. We need more inventory to rent. There are good values for sale currently (if you know where to look) which will translate into strong long term investment properties. Call me!

Now is a great time to own real estate in Phoenix!