News Article From: 03-27-2008
4th Issue of March 2008
February ARMLS Reports
Resale Listings
The listing count reported in the February Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS)1 Reports, which were released on March 14th, was 57,305—up 431 listings from the January reports. After a moderate fall off in the listing count in the fourth quarter of 2007, growth in this number has climbed for the past two months. The record level of listings prior to January 2005 was 30,046 listings in February 2003. The monthly listing quantity rose less than 1% from January to February.
If individuals seeking to sell their homes do not believe that the market has changed from 2005, or if they expect multiple offers and selling prices exceeding the listing prices, they need to read these articles about the market. Compared to February 2006, listings have increased by over 22,000!”
Resale Sales
ARMLS-reported sales for February rose over 18% from the January sales figure with an increase of 538. On an annually adjusted basis sales were down 1,502 or around 30% from February 2007. February’s sales quantity is typically slightly higher than January’s and seems to be following the normal calendar cycle. In this normal calendar cycle, sales tend to be highest in the summer and then gradually taper off over the next few months before resuming the climb during the first quarter of each year. The winter months are consistently the lowest in sales.
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Our sources of data for these displays are the ARMLS reports. In these, there are three months, January – March 2005, for which we have not shown listing data because of apparent discrepancies. Additionally, ARMLS notes that the listing information for March through August 2002 may contain errors, but we have chosen to display this reasonable data above.
Our Assessment of the Resale Market Supply and demand are interrelated variables in the Real Estate Market. Currently both of these variables are driving the market. Up until two years ago, demand was the primary driver. Then for the past two years supply was the primary driver. In the last few months demand has also fallen off substantially from what we had considered the norm - a pace similar to 2002 and 2003.
Because of the prolonged over-supply situation, appreciation in resale housing prices has totally disappeared. The market has now entered a phase where we are seeing an overall price level decline. A significant price adjustment will be necessary to realign the supply and demand variable. It is difficult to tell how long that will take.
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