August 2008, a mere 3 years since the height of our most recent over-inflated boom, has come to a close.

In August, we saw 5833 properties sell at an average sales price of $254,920. The average asking price on properties that sold in August was $245,818 and it took an average of 113 days for those to sell. Homes currently on the market have been so for approximately 94 days on average.

In the Rental market, we currently see a total of 8,905 properties available for lease. In August, 2030 properties were leased at an average rental asking price of roughly $1300/month.

We currently have 51,807 active listings on the MLS with 42,479 of those being Single Family Detached.  Last Monday, this number was at 43,705, representing a 2.8% decrease in the number of homes on the market.

The average sales price for the week ending 8/31/08 was up 14.79% to $280,430 and the number of homes sold in this same period almost doubled to 2110.  Keep in mind that statistics and business that we see recorded today is a result of market conditions and activity in the past.  That is what makes forecasting so difficult.  We never know what the future results of our current actions will be.

It’s taking about 109 days to sell a home across the MLS.  The average asking price fell slightly from the previous week to $408,001.

Sampling of a North Phoenix neighborhood sales history.

It’s hard to say whether or not our market is continuing to correct. I have updated my Market Statistics page this evening and as you can see from the graph below, we are at 2004 pricing. Draw a line from 2001 to our current average sales price today and you’ll see that we’re where we should be. The unrealistic gains are still falling off in certain market areas and people who sell now are still profiting, albeit not nearly as much as they could have.

If you’ll recall, everyone kept saying, “where would you go,” when asked if they should sell back in 2005. Not many people saw that we’d fall back to where we were in 2004. My question for the masses is whether or not we’re going to see an over correction, pushing prices into the 2003 range.

Know what the statistics represent before making a decision.

Statistics help us know what happened so we might prepare for what could happen based on the patterns we’ve observed.  It is very easy to manipulate statistics to show results that will help us gain your trust and confidence.  One of the statistics that I’ve been looking at in the Valley is the percentage of sold price versus asking price.

When a home receives an offer, those of us who think statistically and mathematically will quickly determine what the percentage of the asking price the offer represents.  On a home that is listed for $300,000, if someone offers $285,000 they have submitted a 95% offer.  This information can be very useful for the buyer to determine what to offer the seller.  If the buyer were to look at this from the percentage angle as opposed to the dollar amount, and they were willing to put in a 90% offer, we’d know that their offer is going to be $270,000.  What the seller does at this point is up to the seller, but that’s not the point of this article.

With thousands of sales every month, it is becoming easier for us to compare your property to the rest of the market.  One of the comparisons we look at is the sold price to asking price, which helps our sellers understand what to expect when they receive an offer.  What has often been overlooked is the percentage result we obtain by determining the sold price versus the original asking price.  Most reports that we run are defaulted to show the list price at the time of sale, not the list price at the time the property was listed.

I conducted a simple comparison on 16 properties of a subdivision in the west valley that were all comparable properties.  In order to obtain enough results, I had to go back two years.  I compared the sold to list price of each property and then averaged the results.  What it showed was that on average, the properties that were selling in that neighborhood were selling for approximately 95.6% of their list price.

After calculating the percentage based on the original list price, which is the price for which the seller originally wanted to list their home,  the results showed that the sold price was actually  88.8% of the original list price.

Without conducting your own statistical analysis, it is difficult to understand what someone might be attempting to show you if they don’t disclose how they came up with their numbers.  On one hand, you could pitch to your buyer that it’s likely the seller will settle upon a price that is around 95% of the asking price.  Likewise, you could show a potential seller that their asking price is far too high and that they could expect on average to settle for 88% of their original asking price.

Make sure you know when you are presented with statistics what those statistics are actually measuring, and which statistics really matter to you.

As of the beginning of the week we had a total of 54,674 homes for sale, including all residential property types. By the end of the day on Sunday, our levels had dropped 1.6% to 53,767. The average asking price at the beginning of the week was $408,161 which increased less than one percent. Average days on market decreased by 5.1%.

1256 properties were sold over the past week which was 18.6% more than was sold the previous week. Word is getting out. It’s time to buy.

For properties that sold last week, the average asking price actually increased 2.83% over the previous from $241,098 to $247,941. The actual average SOLD price of the 1256 properties that sold last week was $237,968, 1.4% less than the previous week at $241,268. Those properties on average were on the market 116 days.

As usual, the graphs below, organized by week, outline the activity in the market since the beginning of the year.

Inventory for all of ARMLS stands at 54,114 homes with an average asking price of $411,671. The average sales price over this period was $245,206. The average asking price for properties that sold during the week is actually lower than the sales price.

Homes are selling on average in 101 days. Based on our current inventory and rate of closing, we are looking valleywide at a 9 month inventory on average.

All stats in the weekly update are based on all residential listings and are compiled using data from ARMLS records. I do not guarantee that these statistics are 100% accurate, but they do represent the market trends accurately.

All of the statistics are represented graphically, recorded for each week of the year starting with week one, January 1 – 7.

From time to time I throw up a statistic in the form of a graph so all of you number geeks can get a grip on what’s happening in the market today. An interesting fact to ponder is the pattern that, regardless of the market conditions and consumer spending levels, the behavior pattern of those who are actively buying and selling real estate remains fairly static. You’ll notice that the trend this year changed between March and April. The following graph should explain itself. Roll your mouse over the graph to interact with it.

Take a sampling of the month of may over a 3-year period. You’ll notice that in may of 2005 there were 9,890 home sales. In the same month one year later, there were only 7,573 sales. One year after that, 5,795 sales in May. Each year, the number of sales in May dipped by a rather significant amount. This year, we have a new trend brewing with 5,667 home sales, only 128 less homes sold this year than did last year in May.

Think this has a bearing on the condition of the market? Leave a comment if you have a thought!