Leif Swanson

Real Estate Statistics - January 4, 2010 update:

2009 Sales: Sales in the Phoenix metro area in 2009 hit 92,450, the 3rd highest sales year ever. December 2009’s sales of 7,750 was the 2nd highest December ever. So much for a depressed Phoenix market.

Bank-Owned Active Listings: There are 5,398 active bank-owned foreclosure listings in all of the Phoenix metro area, an increase of 38 over the past week as buyers stopped looking over New Years. Bank-owned properties only account for 16% of all active listings.

Pending sales (properties currently under contract): Currently, there are 9,596 pending sales in the Phoenix metro area plus an additional 5,749 contingency sales (shaky contracts). For comparison, the 9,596 pending sales on January 4, 2010 is higher than the highest # of pending sales at any day in 2006, 2007, or 2008! The total number of properties under contract today is 15,345, down 1,225 in the past week due to a lot of sales at the end of December.

Short sales: Currently 8,759 properties under contract are short sale listings, or 57% of the total market in the Phoenix area, a number that has risen every month. Because banks take 3-4 months to make a decision on short sale contracts, the properties under contract just hang in virtual suspension. Over 25% of all active listings are short sale properties.

Inventory: There are currently 33,361 active listings in MLS as of January 4, 2010. Inventory usually declines during the holiday season. Comparing to last year: January 14, 2009 had that highest number of active listings in 2009 at 52,685. Our inventory has dropped significantly while sales were up significantly.

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Let’s look at Phoenix, Arizona specifically.

For the city of Phoenix only, as of January 4, 2010. Numbers are based on the orange 90-day lines. However, check out the black lines (7-day trends). The Phoenix real estate market has shifted to a seller’s market.

Median sales price for Phoenix properties: $175,648 (down $884 in the past week). It is an odd occurrence. The 7-day trend does not look good (sharp decline). This time last year, the median sales price in Phoenix was $180,043, so we’re not that far off.

Inventory of properties for sale in Phoenix: 5,719, down only 3 in the past week. Phoenix is seeing a decrease while the rest of the metro area has an increase in inventory. See how the market supply has shrunk this year. Amazing. This time last year, there were 10,384 Phoenix properties for sale.

Median price per square foot for Phoenix properties: $96/sqft, no change in the past 3 weeks. This time last year, the median price per square foot was $106.