Arizona home sales down, but new listings are up
January was a good month for real estate in Arizona. Sales were down a little bit from last month, going from 7728 homes sold in December to 6436 houses sold in January. However, we are in-line with the number of houses sold last year in January, which was 6523 homes sold in the Arizona MLS.January saw a little bit of an uptick in new houses for sale, going from 7573 new listings of houses for sale in December to 9884 new listings in January. We saw a similar pickup in new listings last year, going from 9751 new listings in December of 2010 to 12575 new listings in January of 2011. This increase is partially caused by all of the people who did not want to sell their home during the holiday season listing their houses. There is also an increase due to people wanting to start a new year in a new home.
The number of houses for sale in the Arizona MLS stayed about the same from December to January. There were a total of 25770 homes for sale in December, and 25325 houses for sale in January.
There’s no denying that the housing inventory has dropped off significantly in the past year. This is partially caused by the robo-signing scandal that the banks are involved in. I’m hearing rumors that the number of foreclosures and REO’s are set to increase soon, but I have yet to see much proof of it.
There has also been a decrease in the number of short sales on the market. This can be partially caused by homeowners being frustrated with the whole short sale process. However, it could also be be influenced by the shortage of REO houses available. With the significant decrease in “easy” reo’s available, buyers are more likely to stick through the wait on a short sale.
What do you think?
