Despite reports of gloom and doom, the Phoenix market is still doing okay. Here is our Phoenix metro real estate report for January 2023. As of January 31, there are15,663 active listings which have been on market an average of 93 days–active inventory has dropped since last month but the days on market are relatively unchanged. The average list price per square foot, which includes all housing product types, is $550. As a reminder, the Phoenix metro area includes all cities and towns within Maricopa County–this area represents a population of approximately 4.5M–though some sources quote as low as 4.2M and others as high as 4.7M.
There are 8068 pending sales and 590 “coming soon” listings. Since January 1, 2023, there have been 3926 sales. Here are some MLS stats for the recent sales:
- Average days on market: 78
- Average sold price per square foot:
- Average list to sold price ratio: .97
- Average sale price: $516,252
This graph shows how the pending or under contract listing count has changed by month over the past two years.
According to Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors, with inflation cooling a bit, home affordability has been boosted (overall)–this does not necessarily apply to our market where affordability remains an issue–especially in Scottsdale. First time home buyers used to account for nearly 40% of all sales and that number has dipped in recent years to just 28%. Incomes have not kept pace with skyrocketing home prices and the recent downturn in prices has not been enough to get more buyers off the fence–especially with rates near 6%.
Yun predicts a 5.5% mortgage rate by mid-year and if inflation continues to fall, we could possibly see rates hit 4%. We feel that if rates get to 5 to 5.5% we’ll see a sharp uptick in sales. Thank you for reviewing our Phoenix metro real estate report for January 2023.
