Sellers’ market ‘on steroids’
Metro Phoenix home prices hit another record, expected to keep climbing in 2021
Resales in metro Phoenix dropped in January, but home prices still climbed.
The Valley’s median home price hit a new record in the first month of the year and likely climbed by another $5,000 in February. Last month’s housing data is still being tallied.
Too few existing homes for sale in the Phoenix area continues to push up prices as buyers try to outbid each other for houses on the market.
That lack of supply of existing homes for sale is giving the region’s new-home market a boost, with both prices and sales increasing.
“We are now facing a full-blown sellers’ market on steroids,” said housing analyst Tom Ruff with the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service’s Information Market. “Our pending price index has underestimated the median sales price for nine consecutive months, with prices exceeding our mathematical models.
“Our current market is beyond description. We’re hearing of properties selling as soon as they hit the market, with multiple offers and offers well above asking price,” he said. “I can only imagine the stress buyers’ agents are experiencing.”
Hot housing indicators
Though resales were down from December, January 2021 was still the best-ever January for metro Phoenix home sales, according
to ARMLS.
Home sales were down 26.8% in January compared with December. But the 7,076 resales recorded during the first month of 2021 beat the previous January sales record from boom year 2005 by almost 7%.
The Valley’s median resale price hit $340,000 in January, up almost 21% from January 2020.
The area’s median price is expected to have climbed to $345,000 in February, based on pending sales.
About 9,500 houses are listed for sale in the Phoenix area. That’s 41% lower than in February 2020, when the supply of homes for sale already was considered too low.
In February, 2,180 new Valley homes sold, according to Belfiore Real Estate Consulting. That’s up 20% from February 2020.
The median price of a new metro Phoenix home is about $381,000, up 15% from last year.
Higher and higher prices forecast
Both new and resale home prices are expected to keep climbing this year and likely next year because of metro Phoenix’s steady growth, housing analysts say.
The area added about 90,000 people in 2020 and is expected to grow nearly as much this year.
Many of the Valley’s new residents are coming from pricier housing areas and can afford bidding wars.
Buyers hoping to find deals on metro Phoenix homes this year will be disappointed, said Tina Tamboer, Cromford Reports senior housing analyst.
“We can’t even start discussing prices going down until supply and demand are back in balance,” she said.