I wrote an article in our April issue of Phoenix Downtown Neighborhood News, sharing with everyone the premise that the “power to help lead us out of our current economic slump, might very well rest with the people”. What I meant by that observation and what I believe to be true is that many people who could actually qualify to buy a home have put off the decision because of the uncertainty of the marketplace and under the premise that they would wait for the market to “hit bottom”. I went on in the article to explain that most trends are not recognized until a few months after the fact. In other words, people who are waiting until the market hits bottom, will not actually know that the market has hit bottom until a few months after it happens and by then, the market will be on it’s way back up from the bottom. If people who were qualified to buy homes began to do so now, they could actually help the economy start to pick up some steam again.
If you really are trying to gauge the perfect time to buy a home, one of the most important things you can look at is how sales have been the last few months. Many news articles focus on how sales are now compared to a year ago. That is like beating “a dead horse”. It may take us a couple of years to reach the point where year over year sales are the same or increasing in numbers of units sold. On the other hand, if you see month to month sales trending up, that is a better baromoter of “where the market is and where it’s heading”.
Since January, both county wide and in the Downtown Phoenix area, sales activity has been trending up. County wide, sales of existing homes were up 20& in February over January and another nearly 20% in March over February. In looking at 7 downtown Phoenix zip codes, the number of units sold in February was 7% more than January and March sales were 14% more than in February.
If you’re considering a home or condo purchase and are confused about when is the best time to buy, let’s talk! Contact Lyle Plocher with Urban Connection Realty at 602 373 3725 or lyle@urbanconnectionrealty.com
