Look at this chart for a striking view of the amazing free fall of total home inventory in Phoenix during 2011. The heavier line shows that from a high of 42,881 in January to a low of 24, 712 in December, housing inventory has dropped over 40%.
No wonder buyers are saying things like, “I never knew it’d be so hard to find a home.” Well-priced homes are attracting buyers, and in some cases, houses are going over list. Really. One of my clients offered 15% over list on an entry-level townhouse. Multiple offers. And his bid was not accepted.
Lack of inventory will create an interesting environment. While the last time around, the lack of inventory created a buying and selling frenzy, driving home prices sky high, this time around, both buyers and sellers are taking more time to make decisions and not rushing into a sale.
To read the full report: ARMLS Stat Report – January 2012
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Your last sentence here will be the key to a steady, sustainable recovery here in the Phoenix area, and I’m so glad you said it out loud! Rushing into a home sale is the last thing anyone should do, even when the inventory is this low.
This is definitely a bullish sign given the flooding we saw in the market just a few years ago Dru.
I would like to see these metrics for the upper-scale homes. My suspicion is that a lot of Valley residents are going down scale.
Love that you have a factual-basis for most of the posts on your blog.
Sasha, I wish there was an easy to way to find out about which direction home buyers were going. I have several buyers who are downsizing, but also a couple who are starting families and moving up, so I really don’t have any sense of it going one way or another, subjectively.
{ 1 trackback }