We realize it’s been a bit since we were able to give an update on our current market. While opening our new brokerage has been a very exciting time for our business we’ve been busy getting the doors open, walls painted and carpet installed. All that while serving our current Buyers and Sellers. Stop by our new office and say hello! We are located at 120 N Beaver St., Suite 100. The sign is on its way but we would love to see you!
Pending Home Sales
On June 23rd there were 257 single-family homes under contract in the Flagstaff area. This is a sharp increase from the 181 on March 22nd of this year. Traditionally, May is the beginning of our strong summer sales season. During the pandemic, we began tracking pending home sales as well, as this is a great indicator of market interest. The chart above on the right gives us the trends of the pending sales in our market. As has been our belief over the last several months, these numbers are well below the current need for our market. We are still seeing multiple bids on most homes in the market. Buyers continue to have a limited choice of homes to bid on with a slew of competitors. With 257 homes pending and only 87 active homes on the market, you can see the challenges we are facing in our market.
Flagstaff Home Sales for May
There were 103 single-family homes sold in May. It is a bit difficult to compare to May last year as we were in the beginning stages of the Covid shutdown. Moving forward in June, July, and August we are confident to see the number of sold homes increase substantially. Townhome sales were off from May last year with only 20 sold this May compared to 28 last year. Condos were even with 5 each.
Looking at inventory levels, the average for all price ranges remains below a one-month supply. This leads us to the sales price for homes in our area. For May, we saw the median sales price for single-family homes in the Flagstaff area jump to $599,000. Yes, we double and triple-checked the figures. This is a new high for us and we very well could see this go over the $600,000 mark next month, and actually exceeds the current conforming loan limit of $548,250 set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Meaning homes purchased utilizing conventional financing would need to make up the difference in cash, or utilize a Jumbo Loan.
Sharply increasing prices isn’t unique to Flagstaff, either. Nationally the housing market saw a year-over-year increase of 24.64% in the median existing-home price for single-family homes according to the National Association of REALTORS®. The median price for homes across the nation for May was $356,600. Simply put, there are not enough housing units available to meet the current buyer demand. Unlike 2008, current buyer demand is driven by well-qualified home buyers, with solid credit scores, income, and down payment funding, as well as large numbers of investors. The resulting price increases are truly supply-side driven.
The market is constantly in flux, so don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!