From time to time I will take an analytical look at the housing markets of specific area's of the Scottsdale area. For today's blog I am going to focus on the 85255 and 85260 zip codes which encompass a large part of what would be considered the northern central and north Scottsdale area's.
For those familiar with Scottsdale and the Phoenix Metro Area, these zip codes are bound roughly by Jomax Rd to the North, the McDowell Mountain Preserve and the community of Fountain Hills to the East/Southeast, Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd to the East, Shea Blvd to the South, and Scottsdale Rd to the West.
Now for some hard data, courtesy of the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service. As of today, there have been 624 single family sales in this market area in the prior six month period (11/07/2013 - 05/07/2014). The average sale price of these sales was $752,334, with the lowest sale being $205,000 and the highest at $7,150,000. The average price per square foot came in at $229.40. Average days on market has been 89 days.
Lets now compare that six month period with the prior six month period to help us paint a picture of what has been happening in this real estate market as of late. For the prior six month period (05/07/2013 - 11/17/2013), there were 796 single family sales with an average sales price of $691,121 or $220.33 per square foot. Average days on market was 85 days over that period.
What we are seeing in this specific sub-market is a healthy increase in the average sales price of 8.8%. More specifically, and I feel a more accurate portrayal of is to look at the average per square foot sales prices. In this case, we are seeing an increase of 4.1%. This is good, moderate appreciation over that period of time. While prices have continued to increase and that makes everyone happy, sales volume over that same time period has dropped a significant 27.5%. While days on market over that time has only crept up slightly, sales have slowed quite dramatically.
What does this mean? Well, it is clearly becoming more of a buyers market as inventories are rising with the slowed sales volume. What I expect to see in the coming months, if this trend continues, is an increase in the average days on market and a likely stabilization of values, and perhaps even a slight dip in home prices.
As a result, sellers will need to be more realistic and aggressive in their list prices with the increase in competition while buyers will have many more choices and will have less competition for homes. Buyers will be able to offer less than list price and even ask for some concessions while sellers will need to be willing to offer up more and accept less.
Going forward, it will be more important than ever to have a Realtor who understands the local market and can do at minimum, a basic market analysis so that you as a seller get the best price for your home in the least amount of time while buyers are given the best advice in terms of getting the most home for the least amount of money.
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