It’s no secret that the Phoenix real estate market (and countless other local markets) have experienced a slowdown this year. I’m not even going to attempt to link to a story, you’ve all seen plenty of them.
And it’s also no secret that this time of the year is historically one of the slowest times for real estate sales. It’s a seasonal thing. People just aren’t looking for homes this time of year.
Or are they? When I did the ActiveRain “commentathon” a couple of weeks ago, I read numerous AR blogs that mentioned lower inventories, shorter days on market and new found buyers.
Maureen out in Michigan reports that she’s seeing buyers returning to their market.
And we’ve also noted a lot of anecdotal evidence of a shift, turn, adjustment, change–whatever term you’d like to use–in the Phoenix market. Some of what we’ve noted in just the past couple of weeks:
- Contacts from our website have increased significantly. And many are “hot” — meaning they indicate a strong and serious interest in buying within the next 0 – 60 days. (Longer term prospects are also coming forth).
- The phones have been lighting up like…. well, like a Christmas tree. Francy and I have both received numerous calls from prospects over the last two weeks, including on the days before and after Christmas and today, New Year’s Eve. Normally phones are slow on days like this.
- Sign calls on existing listings for both land and residential properties are up.
- Website traffic, blog traffic, and listings feed requests are up significantly.
- We’ve set more people up on a listings gateway this week, historically a very slow week, than in the last three weeks combined.
- Buyer contact is from the full spectrum–young first time buyers to seasoned investors. Upsizers, downsizers, relocations in, relocations out. It’s not just one demographic. Some of the agents in our office have also noticed an uptick in business. And our fabulous office administrator confirms that the office desk phone traffic has picked up, with many more ad calls than we’ve had recently.
We find this anecdotal evidence encouraging. I’m sure the bubbleheads will have a different take (which I’d love to hear–no really.). The fact that other agents across the country are noting the same thing is interesting. While real estate is decidedly local, there are general regional and national trends. Generally speaking, more buyer activity in other markets is a positive indicator of our market.
I’m not saying that the Phoenix market HAS shifted, and there’s certainly not enough hard data to support a market shift (yet). We’ll keep a close eye on it (of course) and report back with more later.
Wishing a happy and prosperous new year to all!
[tags]Phoenix real estate market[/tags]
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This is interesting, it’s the first positive thing I’ve read about the residential market in quite some time!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Desert Investor!
I like your blog. I tried to leave a comment, but Blogger kept timing out on me. I’ll try again later. I did add your blog to my feed reader.
If you’re interested in vacant land, be sure to check out the Whispering Ranch area north west of Surprise. Sales have really tailed off of late, but I expect them to pick up in the beginning of the year. The land is raw, there are no utilities, but it’s been getting a lot of investor interest over the last year or so. It’s cheap considering it’s proximity to Phoenix.
You can find more at http://www.WhisperingRanch.info
Jay,
We are noting the same recent surge of buyer activity in the San Diego area–and a correspnding decline in inventory levels. It is still a sweet market for buyers, but competition for well-priced properties is pickng up.
The Pheonix market is not the only market that saw a slowdown this year. We saw a lot of slowdown over here in Western Europe. I work in the French marketplace, which has slowed from double-digit increases the last few years to only 7.3% this year, with the last 3 months flat. Likewise in the UK. The German market is worse (houses are cheaper now than in 2000). However, take heart. Despite the ups and downs, real estate has a great long-term record.
Roberta - thanks for the comment. There’s also great deals for buyers here too, but things are definitely “stirring up”… Love your Tomatoey blog, it’s lovely!!
Robert – Thanks for stopping by and giving us the European perspective! Please don’t hesitate to chime in any time.
Nice site you have. You don’t see listings titled “14th Century Stone House” around here…
I’m seeing the same increase in traffic and leads on all our websites across the country(170). Some markets are better than others, but for the most part we are seeing a huge spike in traffic; which will eventually turn into more buyers in the marketplace. My prediction is that by the summer we should start to see inventories go down noticibly.
Sorry everyone, but here’s a great article on why the market can’t do anything but get worse for quite some time to come.
http://www.frontlinethoughts.com/printarticle.asp?id=mwo122906
Thanks for the link. I’m not a big fan of having to provide my email address to access information, but that’s what “junk” addresses are for. The article is very lengthy, it’s going to take some time to digest. I’ll add it to my list and report back on my opinions. I don’t want to just skim the article, I want to read and ponder it. Doing anything else wouldn’t be fair.
Jay, you already know this from my post on the Point2 message board … but for everybody else … Northern Illinois, the Northwestern suburbs of Chicago in particular are seeing quite some improvement in the listing traffic! I’ve had more request for showings this week (and it’s only Friday!) than I had in the previous SIX weeks … I’m honest … I actually counted it! … we’re having some great weather too, which is probably helping a lot … imagine … the Windy City and we’ve been in the 50s in the last few days.
… I’m one of those people who just a few weeks back thought it would take at least another year before the market gets a bit more friendly again but now I’m starting to think that I was perhaps (and HOPEFULLY) wrong!
So, everybody, have a great 2007!!!
Market activity from December to current has picked up at a brisk pace in the Sacramento/El Dorado county areas. Although prices are still slowly sliding down buyers have come out of hibernation. Our inventory has also reduced. Thanks for putting out great information Jay.
Andrea
It’s hard to tell if it’s the warm Minnesota weather, or just normal the after holiday’s pick up…but we’re noticing more activity here in Minneapolis too.