The inventory of Maricopa Arizona subdivision homes continues to increase and are now at levels not ween since FEB 2012. Although buyer activity remains relatively strong for s summer season, it cannot keep pace with the flow of new listings onto the market. As you will see in my report below, most of this increase appears to be coming from investor “flips”.
ACTIVE: 186, up from 176 This is a 5.7% increase in one week! As stated above, it appears that buyer activity cannot keep up with the new listings coming onto the market. I predicted this would happen months ago and, in my judgement, the increase will continue for the next few months until the seasonal buying activity resumes in the Fall. This is good news for buyers as it will become easier to find a home and prices will begin to stabilize and may even drop a bit. I foresee and 10% drop in prices over the next couple of months.
ACTIVE SHORT SALES: 22, up from 20 Not much of an increase here. I had expected to see more short sales enter the marketplace with some distressed homeowners taking advantage of school being out of session, thus a good time to make a move. So far it has not materialized but there are still over 300 homeowners that are late on their mortgage payments. Some of these homes may have fallen into foreclosure and become part of the lenders’ shadow inventory.
ACTIVE LENDER OWNED: 19, stable from 18 Not much change here over the past month. Rumors and reports had the lenders releasing more of their pent up inventory during the summer months but so far that has not been the case. There has been a steady flow of homes sold at Trustee Sale so it could be that they are opting to go this route instead of assigning their foreclosures to an agent.
HUD HOMES: 9, up from 4 After being stagnant for almost a year,there has definitely been an increase in HUD inventory. Since these homes are only available to primary occupants for the first 30 days, this has presented a good buying opportunity for those who plan to occupy the home year round. HUD homes also tend to be listed a large discount to maket value. However, multiple offers are bidding them up a bit.
AWC (short sales with offers): 197, up from 194 This category has remained relatively stable over the past month or so. Short sales are still a good option for buyers but so far investors have been aggressive in this area due to lack of inventory and the terrific deals of the past are no longer. That beind said, short sales still tend to sell at a discount.
PENDING: 293, stable from 291 This category has also remained relatively stable for a number of months which indicates the continuation of a strong group of buyers. This is a little surprising due to the fact that most seasonal buyers are not in town and that prices are at an all time high.
CLOSED: 32, down from 45 The number of closed sales can vary quite a bit from week to week and the month of June is on track to be a solid month for closed sales. Since Pending sales remain high, I would expect this trend to continue.
ACTIVE RENTALS: 127, up from 121 After a small surge in inventory about a month ago, this number has stabilized. Rental properties are still a very good investment and more investors appear to be heading in this direction.
RENTALS CLOSED: 28, down from 36 This number can also flucuate from week to week but June is looking to be a VERY strong month for rentals. Of course, this is to be expected due to familes relocating during the school break.
Read the full report here: Monthly home data