The valley is back to a seller’s market. With the flurry of activities happening, like the Super Bowl and WM Open, and the mortgage rates briefly stabilizing between 6%-6.2% there has been an increased amount of accepted contracts by a whopping 86%. Only Goodyear, Queen Creek, Maricopa, and Buckeye remain in the buyer’s market stage.
IF the mortgage rates begin to move around again then it could switch into a buyer’s market. It’s predicted that mortgage rates will either fall or stabilize for the first quarter. Inflation and employment may cause the rates to bounce around and demand ebb and flow over the next few months too.
This is not the seller’s market of 2020-2022. Sellers may see less pressure for price reduction as less listings are hitting the market. There were only 9,664 new listings added onto MLS in January, which is the lowest number of listings added in at least 23 years. Less competition is good for price stability.
Fewer days on market before a contract is accepted is expected to continue to fall to about 25-30 days come this spring. This is no where near the 5-7 days we’ve had in the last couple of years, but still getting better than the 56 days we had in December.
Sellers will notice little change in negotiations or concessions at this stage. Last month, 51% of sales involved seller concessions to the buyer with a median cost of $9,700. So far in February, 47% have involved concessions at a cost of $9,800. The average negotiation is 2.8% below the last list price.
The effects of the current seller’s market will not be seen in sales price measures
until March, at which point we expect to see the rate of decline in sales price measures either slow down or stabilize. Mortgage rates could change the game quickly, however. It’s not a time for buyers or sellers to take market conditions for granted.
Whether you’re buying or selling in Arizona, The Garcia Group is here for you. Give us a call, to see what we can do for you and answer any of your questions that you may have about the market!
Commentary referred to Phoenix Metro Cromford Report by Tina Tamboer, Senior Housing Analyst with The Cromford Report ©2023 Cromford Associates LLC and Tamboer Consulting LLC
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