Friday, January 6, 2012

Phoenix November Press Release

Phoenix Region November Home Sales

The number of homes that resold in the Phoenix area rose above a year earlier for the twelfth month in a row in November as activity increased across the price spectrum. A variety of median sale price measures trended higher month-to-month, and the region’s overall median sale price fell year-over-year by less than 1 percent – the smallest dip since the median began to erode consistently in summer 2010, a real estate information service reported.
 
A total of 7,766 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow during November in the combined Maricopa-Pinal counties metro area. That was down 3.5 percent from the month before but up 9.0 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick, which tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.
 
Phoenix-area sales usually drop between October and November, with that decline averaging 7.1 percent since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Phoenix region statistics begin.
 
Total November home sales fell 10.2 percent short of the average number sold in November since 1994, but that was only because new-home sales remained very low. Resale volume fared much better: The number of houses and condos resold in November – 6,912 – was 7.7 percent higher than the November average and was the highest for that month since November 2009, when 7,114 homes resold.
 
November sales rose year-over-year across most price segments. The number of new and resale homes that sold for less than $100,000 rose 4.6 percent year-over-year, while sales between $100,000 and $200,000 increased 11.4 percent. Deals in the $200,000 to $600,000 range rose 0.7 percent from a year earlier, while above $800,000 sales increased 4.9 percent.
 
The median price paid in November for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Phoenix region was $127,000. That was up 5.8 percent from October but down 0.4 percent from a year earlier. November’s median was the highest since November 2010, when it was $127,500. Also, the year-over-year decline in the median was the lowest since the median began to drop consistently in July 2010.
November’s median stood 51.9 percent below the all-time peak of $264,100 in June 2006.
 
The median price paid for resale single-family detached houses in November rose 5.0 percent month-to-month, to $124,900, and dipped 0.5 percent from a year earlier – the lowest year-over-year decline since that median began its downward slide in September 2010. The median price paid for resale condos in November rose to $81,500, up 5.8 percent month-to-month and up 8.7 percent year-over-year. That annual increase in the resale condo median was the highest since July 2006, when it rose 15.3 percent.
 
Another key price gauge analysts watch, the median price paid per square foot for existing single-family detached houses, increased in November to $69, up from $66 the month before and the same as a year earlier. It was the first time since August 2010 that the median paid per square foot did not drop year-over-year. The November figure was 59.6 percent below the $171 peak median price paid per square foot in May and June of 2006.
 
At the county level in November, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses in Maricopa County was $72, up from $70 in October but down 1.8 percent from a year earlier. It was the lowest annual decline for any month since the measure began dropping consistently back in September 2010. The Pinal County median paid per square foot was $50 in November, up from $49 in October and up 7.4 percent from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive month to post a year-over-year gain. Prior to this October, the last year-over-year increase was in June 2010.
 
Absentee buyers, who include investors and vacation-home buyers, bought 43.4 percent of all Phoenix-area homes sold in November, down from 44.0 percent in October but up from 42.7 percent a year earlier. Absentee purchases peaked for the current real estate cycle at 47.1 percent in March 2011. In November, absentee buyers paid a median $103,000, up from $100,000 in October and up slightly from $102,000 a year earlier.
 
Cash buyers represented 40.8 percent of all sales in November, up from 39.7 percent in October and up a hair from 40.3 percent in November 2010. The record for cash buying was 48.0 percent in February 2011. November's cash buyers paid a median $96,000, up from $88,500 in October and up from $95,000 a year earlier. Specifically, these were transactions where there was no indication of a purchase loan recorded at the time of sale.
 
Many cash and investor buyers target distressed properties. In November, distressed sales dropped to 54.4 percent of all resale activity – the lowest level for any month since the figure was 53.1 percent in July 2008. Distressed sales are made up of lender sales of foreclosed properties, as well as “short sales,” where the sale price falls short of what was owed on the property.
 
Foreclosure resales, defined as homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months, accounted for 38.5 percent of November resales – the lowest level since May 2008. November’s figure was down from 43.0 percent in October and 54.3 percent a year earlier. The peak level for foreclosure resales was 66.2 percent in March 2009.
 
Short sales represented an estimated 15.9 percent of November’s resale activity, down from 16.2 percent in October, but up from an estimated 13.8 percent a year ago and 13.9 percent two years ago.

Lenders foreclosed on 3,307 Phoenix-area homes in November, up 16.2 percent from October and up 9.5 percent from a year earlier. During the first 11 months of 2011, lenders foreclosed on 48,935 Phoenix-area homes, down 11.8 percent from the same period in 2010. The figures are based on the number of Trustees Deeds filed with county recorder offices. The document signals that a home was lost to foreclose.

Chart is available at DQNews.com

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