Chandler saw a very healthy change in the median sales price last month over September ’17 – up over 7% from $300,000 to $321,500 Home sales volume dropped almost 12% – 378 sales vs. 422. The average per square foot price was $168, up from $162 last year. Average days on market fell from 38 to 34.
Homes that closed are selling in an average of 34 days and for around 98% of listed price, indicating little to no negotiating room, particularly at the beginning of the listing period.
Current active listing inventory is 595 homes, with 425 under contract at a median sales price of $330,000 and an average days on market of 27. The median list price is $389,000 with s square foot price of $173 indicates that many homes still on the market are much larger in size. With a 1.5 month supply of homes in the city, we remain in a strong seller’s market. The large gap in asking price vs. what homes are under contract for shows that homes in the higher price ranges are not only taking longer to sell, but they are also making up a large portion of what is now on the market.
With the number of home sales down over the last few months compared to last year, we should continue to see a lower volume of home sales through our holiday season. Although it is very much a seller’s market and homes under the $350,000 mark are moving quickly. Buyers looking above this range are far fewer in quantity and much more discerning/particular about scouring their options before pulling the trigger.
Appraisals are coming in to support sales prices with a few exceptions.
Attractive interest rates, healthy employment levels, and low delinquency/foreclosure rates indicate that our market is strong, although rates are expected to climb in 2019, softening the buying pace. Prices should climb next year, but not at the levels we saw in ’17 and ’18.
Closing cost assistance and home repairs are still being negotiated from sellers. Rarely are homes being sold in ‘as-is’ condition.
The distress factor, which consists of short sales and foreclosures, ticked up slightly from just under 1% of closed sales in 2017 (4 homes) to 1.3% (5 homes). Currently less than 1% of Active listings fall into this category, and 3.5% of all homes under contract (includes homes that can take months for bank approval, and “stack up” in the pipeline as a result).
As Chandler schools have convened, we have passed the “prime time” or peak selling/buying season of 2018.
We are seeing a very diverse group of homebuyers and sellers, mostly Millennial first-time homebuyers, followed by trade-up/downsizing buyers and sellers (who are generally selling their homes and not renting them out); some investors are selling off properties they purchased after the market crash and seeing healthy profits, but not enough to keep up with the intense demand we are seeing now and anticipated increase in buyer activity as the summer comes into full swing.
