Thursday, December 5, 2013

October Phoenix Region Home Sale Press Release

Phoenix Region October Home Sales


The Phoenix area’s median sale price rose in October to its highest level in more than five years, pushed up by robust demand meeting a tight inventory, more mid- to high-end deals and a sharp drop in distressed sales. The number of homes sold fell to a three-year low for the month of October amid sharp year-over-year declines for sub-$200,000 sales and a significant dip in cash and investor buying, a real estate information service reported.

Buyers paid a median $195,000 for all new and resale houses and condos sold during October in the combined Maricopa-Pinal counties metro area. That was the region’s highest median sale price since the median was also $195,000 in July 2008. October’s median rose 1.6 percent from September and rose 21.9 percent from October 2012, according to San Diego-based DataQuick, which tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

The Phoenix-area median has risen year-over-year for 24 consecutive months and those gains have been double-digit for the last 20 months. But the October median was still 26.2 percent below the region’s all-time peak of $264,100 in June 2006.

The year-over-year gains in the Phoenix-area’s median sale price over the past two years have ranged from 7.5 percent to 32.2 percent, and reflect several trends. Prices have risen as greater demand has met a relatively low supply of homes for sale. The median, the point where half of the homes sold for more and half for less, has also risen because of a large shift in the types of homes selling: Compared with a year ago, more homes selling today are mid- to high-priced and far fewer are lower-cost distressed properties.

In October, a total of 7,751 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the two-county Phoenix region, down 1.6 percent from the month before and down 12.9 percent from a year earlier.

On average since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Phoenix region statistics begin, the number of homes sold in October has been 1.3 percent higher than in September.

This October’s sales were 15.9 percent below average for the month of October. Resales of houses and condos combined this October were 4.7 percent below the historical average for that month, while new-home sales were 52 percent below the October average.

During the first ten months of this year (January through October), a total of 89,200 homes sold in the Phoenix region, down 0.2 percent from the same period in 2012. Condo resales during that 10-month stretch rose 4.5 percent year-over-year, while single-family house resales fell 1.8 percent and sales of all newly built homes rose 6.1 percent.

In October, home sales continued to fall sharply in the Phoenix-area’s lowest price ranges, while the middle and upper-price categories posted significant gains. The number of new and resale homes bought in October for less than $100,000 dropped 48.6 percent from a year earlier, while sub-$200,000 sales fell 29.0 percent. Deals between $200,000 and $600,000 – a typical move-up range – increased 18.1 percent year-over-year, while the number of homes selling for $800,000 or more jumped 36.5 percent from the same month last year.

In the Phoenix region’s multi-million-dollar luxury home market, 192 homes sold for $2 million or more during the first 10 months of this year, up 25.5 percent from the same period last year. This year’s tally is the highest for the January-through-October period since 308 homes sold for $2 million-plus in the first 10 months of 2008. The figures are based on public property records, where either a price or loan amount was available. October saw 22 Phoenix-area homes sell for $2 million or more, up slightly from 21 a year earlier.

Other Phoenix area October highlights are available at DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916)456-7157 or alepage@dqnews.com

Copyright 2013 DataQuick. All rights reserved.

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