Metro Phoenix’s housing market experienced a jump in the housing market The area’s median home-sales price climbed almost $10,000 in March from February.
The median price for March was $204,500, up almost 4.9 percent compared with $195,000 in February, according to a new report from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
March’s higher home prices came as part of the traditionally busy spring sales season for metro Phoenix. Increases likely will continue through May says the report.
February’s median price had been the lowest median sales price reported for the region in seven months and despite the bump in home prices in March, the number of sales is still far behind last year’s pace. Home sales were down 20 percent in March compared with the same month a year ago.
Demand for Valley homes will continue to rebound more strongly next year, but a recent drop in mortgage rates and lenders making mortgages available to more buyers could help the housing market over the next few months.
The average rate for a 30-year mortgage fell to 4.18 percent this week, according to real estate research firm Zillow. And in mid-April, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s survey indicated it was the easiest time for borrowers to get mortgages in the past three years.
Median metro Phoenix home-sale price likely will fall again during summer, when luxury, snowbird and active-adult home buyers retreat from the area’s heat.
We may still be looking at little to no annual price appreciation by the end of the year though so we will have a level market as we finish out the year.
On the horizon we see a big wave of buyers who lost homes to foreclosures and short sales during the recession should be back in the housing market starting next year, boosting demand and prices in metro Phoenix.
So stabilization is the key word for the first half of 2014 and will continue till 2015.
Stay tuned for more…
I don’t normally disucuss the temperature of the Retail Market, but we live in an economic ecosytem where what happens in one part affects the other so we as Realtors and our clients should pay attention to what’s happening in other segmensts of the market.
When the recession was in full swing, one of the markets that took the biggest hit was Phoenix. Residential and commercial real estate were overbuilt in the market, and the retail sector became a casualty.
That’s all changing now, as retailers are starting to expand into the market. Retail real estate vacancy rates in Phoenix are currently around 10.5% and expected to fall below 10% by the end of the year. That’s a marked improvement from two years ago, when they were around 13.5%.
Right now retailers that are already in the market are focusing on filling gaps within the core and backfilling vacancies left by former tenants in shopping centers. There isn’t a whole lot of new development, so space is tight. Retailers are cautiously looking in growth areas but are going to make sure that the customers are in place before committing.
There are some concepts constructing new stores, though. Discount grocer WinCo Foods and Sprouts Farmers Market are two chains looking to build and expand. While there are some concerns about potential grocery store closings in the area due to the parent company of Albertsons acquiring Safeway, many of those closings could easily be backfilled by concepts like Planet Fitness and Blast Fitness, as well as furniture retailers such as, Ashley Furniture and Living Spaces.
As long as the market stays affordable and there isn’t another overzealous building boom experts say the rebound should continue.
Since our housing market has stabilized and everyone is cautiously optimistic the Retail Market has seen the same stabilization we have seen in the housing market in the last 18 months and that is good news for everyone.
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