By Frank May, Real Estate Agent

Happy New Year to you all! If there’s one thing I’m learning about 2023, it’s that no one knows what is going to happen!

I am reading and listening to a lot of different people and there are optimistic people and not so optimistic people. Depending on who you listen to, things could be good or bad! Most of these people are looking at national stats, so I’m trying to remain hyperlocal and stick to our stats here in the Upper West Side.

I’m writing this toward the tail end of December, so that it can be out in print by early January. Here’s the scoop as we head into 2023. Our inventory has dropped, which is normal for the holidays. This is good news, because if inventory increased during this time, it would be an extremely bad sign. The inventory will start to go back up in January, but the drop right now has been bigger than I thought it would be, as we went down from about 20,000 active homes a month ago to 17,700 today. It hasn’t been that low since July and back then it kept going up to 21,000 before this drop.

Here in 85383, we peaked at about 345 homes at the beginning of November and are now down to 280 homes. The sellers will start putting homes on the market this month and the unknown is how many buyers will be buying. I’ll continue watching these numbers as this gives us a great idea of which way prices will go––up or down, that’s the question.

Some great news for our local economy is the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) opening and bringing jobs. According to media reports, the TSMC will employ nearly 4,500 people and multiple suppliers for the TSMC are planning on relocating to the Phoenix area. They estimate that over the next five years it will create up to 80,000 jobs for the area. This will be very positive for our housing market and prices as more people will need housing. The access to the TSMC plant from the Upper West Side makes our area very desirable for people employed there. All of this cascades into more money being spent here to support schools (through taxes) and local businesses. Keeping businesses open and adding more businesses continues to make people want to live here!

It’s great to have so many choices when you want to go out to eat or go shopping. It’s a good cycle, so keep being thankful in 2023 for such a great area. I hope 2023 is even better for you than you are hoping! And, as always, if you have other real estate questions, let me know.

Frank May grew up in the Valley, graduating from Northwest Christian School and Northern Arizona University. He is a real estate agent with RE/MAX Fine Properties and has been helping both buyers and sellers for over 20 years. He has been a Dave Ramsey Endorsed Local Provider (ELP) since 2003. Learn more at mayteam.com.