November 2018 – Letter From the Publisher

Nate Hoelzen
President, Arizona Journal of Real Estate & Business 

Dear Readers,

As you look ahead to plan for 2019, it’s important to take a step back and learn from what the Arizona real estate market experienced in 2018. Throughout the past year, you’ve seen home prices steadily increasing, mortgage rates rising, and single-family homes driving the market. Although the past is not guaranteed to influence what’s to come, it can be a great indicator in helping you make decisions for the future.

It has been a competitive real estate market for Arizona in 2018, due in part to a lower supply of affordable houses in recent years. This is expected to uptick due to increasing demand. The vast majority of houses sold at list price and although mortgage rates increased early in the year, borrowers continued to qualify and create business. In this issue, you’ll learn information like this and how to act on it from experts in the industry to help you be successful in 2019.

If you were in the market for a previously owned single-family home in 2018, you were certainly not alone! Pre-owned single-family homes represented about 80% of all sales, which was three to four times greater than the market for new single-family homes.

It’s also important to note that 2018 marked Phoenix as not only a top performer in the Arizona real estate market, but also nationwide. I would continue to expect to see Phoenix on the rise with the commercial real estate growth in the area.

I hope you will join us for the 2019 Arizona Market Forecast Seminar in November for an in-depth discussion with industry leaders about what’s to come in the year ahead. As we all well know, no one knows exactly what the future will hold, but understanding past trends and how they can help inform the future of the market will be your best bet to success in 2019.

Nate Hoelzen