By Frank May
Fall is in the air, which in Arizona means temperatures are dropping! November seems to be the month where we usually really drop and it gets cold (for us) but October is still such a transition for the Valley. Enjoy the next six months and sorry about all of the extra traffic.
The other great news is that after three months of the average sales prices dropping, we turned that around and went positive! The overall MLS went up an average of 6.58% and 85383 went up 4.49%.
I’m feeling the difference with a couple of listings that went under contract quickly with one of those getting multiple offers. The average days on market dropped a little in 85383 as well, going from 71 days to 67.
The interest rates have slowly been dropping as well and that is motivating buyers and qualifying more buyers! Over the past year we’ve seen rates drop over 1.5%! That was a rough few years beginning in the middle of 2022 and I am happy to see these rates drop. If you bought a home in the last couple of years and have a mortgage, you will want to look into refinancing and call my trusted lender, Ben Tobias (and let him know I referred you) to see if it is the right time to make it worth it.
Our inventory is up which is needed. When I started 20+ years ago, I think our inventory was over 25,000 homes. We are currently at about 19,500 which is a good number for buyers to have choices but not too many that so many are sitting on the market for months and months (some still are, but not a ton). The numbers are showing that we are almost equally a buyer and sellers market which hasn’t happened in a while. What that means out here in my world is that there are some homes that are in great shape and priced right that are getting multiple offers, and others that are sitting for a couple of months while the sellers match the price with what the market is paying. I know you probably find this hard to believe but some homeowners think their home is worth way more than their four neighbors with the same floor plan and similar upgrades, and it takes some time for them to realize that buyers are purchasing the other homes for better prices.
Overall, after a slower and hot summer, things are looking very good with the prices starting to edge up slowly and interest rates dropping down. If you have more questions about the market or about your home, please feel free to give me a call or schedule a time to meet and I’m happy to go over all of that with you!
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.
