November 2010 Downtown and Phoenix Real Estate Report

We just received the latest downtown and greater Phoenix real estate market report for November 2010. The report is courtesy of our friends at Fidelity National Title and Mike Orr of the Cromford Report.

If you’ve been reading our blogs for a while, you already know about Mike Orr. If not, he is arguably the top real estate analyst in town. We’ve been following his work for several years now and it is one of the reasons so many people turn to us when they have questions or real estate needs. Mike has helped us keep ahead of the market, understand current and future trends, and generally helped us to better serve our clients.

The attached PDF file is Mike’s November 2010 report for the Phoenix real estate market and below is our take on the information. Please note that Mike only studies the single family home market and does not look at condos. We’ve done a bit of research on our own and will include some condo sales data for those downtowners interested.

THE URBAN CONNECTION TEAM’S TAKE ON DOWNTOWN AND PHOENIX REAL ESTATE

downtown phoenix real estate reportWe’ve already talk about how slumpy the market has been throughout the summer and fall. This was largely in part due to the federal tax credit and the unnatural upswing in sales last spring. The data for November has both pluses and minuses… Yes we have some positive numbers out there.

On the plus side, pending sales (those homes/condos that have been placed in escrow) are rising a bit; Not in a big way, yet the graph is not doing the downhill-ski-slope-thing like a few months ago. In addition, the number of REO homes coming to market is generally down a bit. We believe a reduction is REO (lender owned homes) is good news for pricing; REO homes tend to sell well below current market value and brings home prices down in general.

On the not-so-good side, prices are still weak, the months of supply has risen above the 6 month level, and sales/month are well below this time last year.

As we explore the downtown Phoenix real estate market we see some interesting things. Condo sales are on the rise with 3rd Avenue Palms, Landmark and One Lexington seeing good sales. Most of the sales are in the under $100,000 range with One Lexington seeing the highest buyer at $490,000. Based on current pendings and solds, condo inventory is well under the 6 month figures… a good sign for that part of the market.

Single family home sales in the downtown Phoenix area are on the rise too. Only 2 homes closed escrow in November, but the number of pending listings is 37 today. Since 12 of those are short sales, we can expect nearly 30 sales to show up in December. Much better than the past two months for single family homes.

On a personal note, our listing in Willo showed a lot of interest and a buyer presented an offer in less than a week of it being placed on the market. Granted, it’s a beautiful home.

CONCLUSIONS:

We expect sales to dwindle a bit during the holiday… they generally do.  The downtown condo market should continue to see some good sales, especially with reasonably priced units like those at 3rd Avenue Palms and One Lexington. 44 Monroe should open its doors in December as well and we know there is a lot of interest in that project. We already have 30+ people signed up on the email notification list for 44 Monroe. (44Monroe@urban.moseke.com)

We’ll go out on a limb and say that the mid-priced home market will do well in the new year too. Homes in the $250,000 to $400,000 range are a good value at this time and many richly appointed historics now fall into this category. With the growth in the downtown job market, we expect there to be good demand for housing in the area.

If you would like to see all the stats, charts and graphs for the Phoenix real estate market… we have it for you.

The Urban Connection Real Estate Team
602-234-5777

connecting people to the perfect space in downtown Phoenix

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