Resale price of single-family Valley homes sets barrier-breaking record in May 2019
For the first time, the single-family resale price of a home in Maricopa County was more than $300,000, ending at $308,000 in May, according to Fletcher R. Wilcox, vice president Grand Canyon Title and author of The Wilcox Report.
Wilcox said the reason for the record sale price is demand fueled by population and job growth. Maricopa County was the No. 1 county for its population increase in 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Companies are moving to Maricopa County to seek employees because of its population growth. People are moving to Maricopa County because they see companies moving here. It is a momentum playing off each other, and I see this continuing. Both people and jobs will continue to fuel the demand to own a home.
There were 7,562 sales of single-family resales in May. This is the highest number of sales since June 2011 when there were 7,790.
According to Wilcox’s report:
• The median sale price for a single family resale ended at $308,000 in May 2019. This is now the new monthly record high for the median sale price. The month with the previous highest median sale price was March 2019 when it was $297,000. Before this time, the record month was June 2018 at $295,000 and before that time we have to go all the way back to the pre-real estate recession month of June 2006 when it was $287,500.
• For the second month in a row, the year-over-year slow-down for sales of single-family resales has ended. Sales of single-family resales in Maricopa County (Greater Phoenix) in May 2019 were 7,562. This was 430 more or 5.1% higher than May 2018. Sales were also higher in April 2019 over April 2018. Previous to April 2019, sales were down year-over-year for eight consecutive months starting in August 2018. See Table one. Another highlight for May 2019 is that 7,562 sales is the highest number of sales for a month since June 2011 when there were 7,790 sales. But in June 2011 the median purchase price for a single family resale was $126,500 compared to $308,000 in May 2019.
• New monthly listings of single family resales were up year-over-year in both May and April. They were down year-over-year in February and March.
• When comparing sales of single-family resales in May 2019 to May 2018 we see a substantial decrease in sales under $200,000. In this price range, there were 350 fewer sales in May 2019. A reason for this decrease is that since purchase prices keep going up there are just fewer homes for sale in this price range compared to last year at the same time. In almost every sale price range at $250,000 or above, we see a year-over-year increase in the number of sales. There were 721 more sales at $250,000 or above this May over last May. Sales in the $200,000 to $249,999 price range were almost breakeven, there were seven fewer sales this May compared to last May.
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Jay Bru
jay@jaybrugroup.com