News updates are sent daily. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Valley home inventory slowly dropping
Digg|
Save|
License|
Print|
E-mail|
After shooting up rapidly in 2006, the number of existing Valley homes on the market has inched downward in the past couple of months.
About 43,800 homes are currently up for resale, down from a peak of roughly 48,000 two or three months ago, said Robert Rucker, CEO of the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service.
“I think it’s good to see inventory levels dropping even if it’s just 3,000 or 4,000,” he said.
Rucker said he expects to see inventory numbers continue to drop to more normal levels in the coming months. Historically, the Valley has averaged 30,000 to 35,000 home listings at any given time, Rucker said. But in early 2005 that number dropped to 6,000 or 7,000, he said. The number of speculative new homes — those already built or under construction but not yet sold — also dipped slightly in October, said John Fioramonti with real estate research firm Hanley Wood. Builders have been offering incentives and have cut way back on production, said Fioramonti, managing director at the firm’s Tempe office.
“The builders are finally coming to grips with reality here,” he said.
Homeowners and builders alike are reducing prices, he said. During the housing boom, home price appreciation rates weren’t sustainable, said Ross Smith, senior vice president at commercial brokerage Grubb & Ellis.
“As the prices went up, people got to the point where they weren’t willing to pay those prices,” Smith said. When the slowdown hit, some new homebuyers canceled contracts with builders, and others couldn’t sell their old homes to buy new ones, he said. “We’ve kind of gone through that phase of the process,” Smith said. Now, sellers are adjusting their prices or taking their homes off the market, and builders are clearing out excess inventory, he said.
“We’re optimistic things will be accelerating as we pass the first of the year,” he said.
Please add your comments, but follow these guidelines to keep this a safe, credible place for discussing the news: