July Flagstaff homes market steady.
Flagstaff’s July home sales looked remarkably like June home sales. A total of 95 Flagstaff single-family residences sold in July 2013 vs. 90 homes in June. The median price for July dropped slightly to $315,000 from June’s median of $323,000. That July median is 17.5% above the median price of homes sold one year ago in July 2012.
As I said in last month’s report, the cause of the rise in median price is the fact that more expensive homes are selling for the first time in years. Not many, but certainly more than zero in each price range in the chart. For several years, we often saw big, fat zeros in the Sold column for homes priced over $400,000. So, don’t take last year’s estimate that your Flagstaff home was worth $300,000 and add 17%. Doesn’t work that way!
Lower-priced homes continue to be in short supply in Flagstaff. It’s a “seller’s market” for any Flagstaff home under $500,000 which is in decent shape. We could have sold more than 60 homes in the $200,000-$400,000 range during July had there been more listed. Townhomes are not helping to relieve this pressure although there are many under construction.
Of note this month is the drop in homes under contract compared with June (the ACR, PBK and Pending columns in the chart). This means fewer closings coming up in August. However, this is consistent with Flagstaff’s seasonal pattern (the most sales for the year occur in May and June) and may not be a reaction to rising interest rates, which the national home sales market is said to be reacting to.
A survey of the Phoenix market in July by Credit Suisse revealed “our buyer traffic index pulled back sharply in July.” The forecasting firm concluded regarding the Phoenix market: “Inventory and time to sell trends remained positive, but over time we still need better demand/economic activity to support stronger price levels.” I would agree regarding the Flagstaff market.
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