Market Update
June 8, 2018
Fletcher Wilcox
V.P. Business Development & Real Estate Analyst, Grand Canyon Title Agency, Inc.
Median Sale Price Continues to Go Up
The chart below compares the median sale price in Maricopa County for the last four years and first four months of 2018. As you can see, the sale price has increased every month from year to year. These year-over-year increases reflect a growing demand to own due to rises in population and jobs versus a flat or decreasing supply of available homes.
April Sales and Estimated Months of Supply by Price Range
An equilibrium market between sellers and buyers is generally thought to be around six months. Many of the sale price ranges in Table 1 below, which covers previously owned single-family homes in Maricopa County, involve an estimated supply of available homes of fewer than four months. This is a seller’s market. The most popular sale price range, between $200,000 and $249,999, has an estimated supply of under one month. Let’s look back into history. The table shows zero sales in April 2018 under $50,000. In April 2011, there were 731 single-family sales under $50,000. Do you wish you would have bought one?
Table 1. April 2018 Previously Owned Single-Family Home Sales and Estimated Months of Supply (Maricopa County)
Sales and Median Sale Price by City
The following table lists 39 cities. While most of the cities are in Maricopa County, I added some cities from Pinal County. Table 2 compares the number of sales and the median sale price for April 2017 to April 2018. As you can see, not every city had more sales this April over last April. I believe the reason for this was lack of inventory. When comparing median sale prices, only two cities (Queen Creek and Wittmann) failed to increase from 2017 to 2018. Remember, this comparison indicates an overall trend of increasing home values and may not apply to every property. There are certain areas in which older, more expensive homes may not be appreciating as fast, if at all.
Table 2. Sales and Median Sale Price, April 2017 vs. April 2018
Purchase Trends
The data for this report was compiled from the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc.
Purchases with cash, conventional loans, and VA loans were up from April 2017 to April 2018, while FHA purchases were down (see Table 3).
Table 3. Purchase Trends, April 2017 vs. April 2018