January produced another excellent month of housing price gains, although the total number of sales took a large dip. This is not surprising, since closings which occur in January are the result of contracts written in December which is historically slow due to the holidays. The price increase is certainly a positive indicator for the year to come.
The overall average home price in January increased by 2.3%, moving from $312,327 to $319,477. The increase over January 2017 was 10.8%. The average price per square foot also increased substantially to $181.
Inventory, stayed roughly the same at 15,640 homes for sale despite the fact that the number of homes sold dropped sharply to 5,884. This indicates that not many homes were listed in December either, which is typical. The numbers indicate that there is a two and a half month supply of homes on the market, which is a seller's market.
The breakdown of homes currently available remained unchanged for the most part, and homes under $150,000 remain very difficult to find. The percentages of available homes are: $0-$150,000 (6% of the market), $150,000-$250,000 (24%), $250,000-$500,000 (40%), $500,000+ ($30%).
Foreclosures and short sales continue to stay at their record low rates of 0.8% of the market and 0.6% respectively. They continue to be an insignificant portion of the market.
Here is a breakdown of the market changes, based on average sale price in January compared to December, in some of the individual cities in the Phoenix metro area:
Ahwatukee - Decreased from $347,943 to $343,461 (1.3%)
Anthem - Decreased from $357,833 to $310,000 (13.4%)
Avondale - Increased from $222,161 to $230,303 (3.7%)
Buckeye - Decreased from $231,595 to $229,463 (1%)
Cave Creek - (Median Price) Decreased from $424,309 to $424,000 (0.1%)
Chandler - Increased from $319,450 to $344,451 (7.8%)
Fountain Hills (Median Price)- Decreased from $370,000 to $364,900 (1.4%)
Gilbert - Increased from $323,319 to $330,890 (2.3%)
Glendale - Increased from $236,689 to $246,182 (4%)
Goodyear - Increased from $287,267 to $296,809 (3.3%)
Maricopa - Decreased from $204,368 to $199,608 (2.3%)
Mesa - Decreased from $252,568 to $246,171 (2.5%)
Paradise Valley (median price) -Increased from $1,566,000 to $1,650,000 (5.4%)
Peoria - Decreased from $303,676 to $297,030 (2.2%)
Phoenix - Decreased from $282,080 to $277,450 (1.7%)
Queen Creek - Decreased from $325,014 to $305,344 (6.1%)
San Tan Valley - Decreased from $234,181 to $222,282 (5.1%)
Scottsdale - Increased from $555,592 to $569,214 (2.5%)
Sun City - Increased from $197,859 to $198,515 (0.3%)
Sun City West - Decreased from $239,384 to $236,861 (1.1%)
Surprise - Increased from $245,569 to $247,381 (0.7%)
Tempe - Decreased from $299,608 to $285,094 (4.9%)
