Maricopa Arizona Homes for Sale – Weekly Market Update 2MAY
This week showed signs of stability across the board. Let’s take a look at the numbers.
ACTIVE: 401, up from 397. This is a very modest increase but since the number of subdivision homes for sale in Maricopa AZ has remained relatively steady for the past three weeks, we could be nearing the bottom. I believe that this will be the case as the number of active buyers decreases and the lenders begin to release some of their “shadow” inventory.
SHORT SALES: 147, down from 155. Buyers continue to look to short sales due to lack of inventory. Though the short sale process does not appear to be any shorter than in the past, buyers simply have no choice, especially if they are searching for specific home types.
LENDER OWNED: 81, up from 74. This indicator has remained relatively stable for almost two months. Even with less “snowbirds” entering into the buying process, I don’t fopresee this number moving much lower and, in fact, should begin to increase as shadow inventory is released. There are some rumors floating around that a big release will happen in June. We’ll see.
AWC (short sales with under contract): 214, stable. This indicator has remained relatively stable since the first of the year. Even though buyers are migrating towards this area due to lck of inventory, the supply of new listings has kept pace. I have noticed a bit of an increase in the number of distressed homeowners seeking assistance so an increase in short sale inventory could be on the way. If this happens, and is coupled by a lender release of shadow inventory, there could be some very good bargains to be found here with aggressive offers.
PENDING: 377, down from 399. Though this number dropped due to another strong month of closings, this is still a very strong indication that closings will be strong in May. Due to the uncertainty of a number of factors, all bets are off after that. We’ll just have to wait to see what the summer brings in the way of buyers.
CLOSED: 83, up from 40. The month finished with a flurry as weekly closings hit a record number. I won’t read too much into the weekly April numbers as itl may have started off sluggish due to tax season.
APRIL CLOSINGS: 235, down from 291. A decrease was expected after a record March but this is still a very strong number that has not been approached since June of last year. Though I would expect the number of PENDING sales to begin to drop a bit, this bodes well for a strong closing month in May.
Auction: There were actually quite a few more homes available at auction than the 26 I posted. I was out of town for a couple of days and did not retrieve the data.
SUMMARY: I expect May and June to be very important months in terms of trending. It will be interesting to watch the level of seaonal buyer activity and see if it remains strong due to buyers not being able to purchase their desired home because of lack of inventory. The end of the school year should also affect short sale inventory as I expect the number of new listings to increase substantially. We should also see a shift towards larger, two level homes as families look to upgrade. Of course, the decision the lenders make regarding the release of shadow inventory will play the largest role in what will happen during the summer buying season.
View the full spreadsheet Monthly home data
