The Maricopa County real estate market continues to favor sellers, although over the past twelve months, no real home value increases have been realized. July statistics present mixed news as the average days on market dropped slightly as well as the number of active listings. In addition, multiple offer situations are decreasing. This bodes well for sellers and buyers in different regards. For sellers, it means listings are going under contract quicker and multiple offers are still possible. While for buyers, it means more opportunity to bargain. Homes listed under $200,000 remain the most popular in Maricopa County and buyers and sellers should act accordingly when submitting purchase offers and while setting listing prices.
Maricopa County Home Prices
The average list price to sales price ratio remains quite high, but did drop slightly from 97.58 to 97.47 from June to July, the same figure from May of this year. It likewise bests April of this year, when the average list price to sales price ratio came-in at 97.35. However, it's still short of March 2016, when the average list price to sales price ratio hit a high of 98.08, the best in the period running from May 2013. This is particularly interesting and seems to establish a long-running trend of a high average list price to sales price ratio as this figure has not dropped below 96.30 for the past three years. The average sales price in July 2016 for Maricopa County fell to $272,461 from $282,289, the average sales price from June of this year. This appears to be at least a short-term trend as the average sales price in May of this year came-in at $282,420. But, it still outperforms April's average sales price of $271,302, as well as March's average sales price of $269,929.
Current Mortgage Rates
Without any significant position change from the United States Federal Reserve, mortgage rates remain near historic lows, a big plus for buyer who will save thousands of dollars over the life of their loans. Low mortgage rates also bode well for sellers because such savings provides buyer incentive to enter into the real estate market for the first time or take advantage to sell and purchase a new property more befitting of their needs. Currently, the rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is just 3.43 percent and 2.77 percent for a 15-year, fixed rate note. The current FHA 30-year fixed rate is 3.25 percent, while a jumbo 30-year fixed rate is 3.57 percent and a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage is 2.84 percent, according to the latest figures appearing at Mortgage News Daily.
July Sales by Loan and Transaction Type
Traditional or non-distressed properties continue to account for the single largest percentage of transaction type. Only 4.26 percent of all closed sales involved distressed properties, of which, 2.38 percent were foreclosures and 1.88 percent were short sales. During July in Maricopa County, a total of 7,778 residential transactions closed, down from the June total of 8,969. July's number of closed transactions is evidence of a trend as 8,821 and 8,438 sales completed in May and April, respectively. Out of the 7,778 completed transactions in July, 3,816 were conventional mortgages, 1,770 involved FHA loans, 1,559 were cash sales, and 582 were VA loans.
Maricopa County Real Estate Listing Statistics
The number of active listings in Maricopa County fell slightly from 20,404 in June to 19,723 in July. Pending listing also decreased to 8,515 in July from 8,880 in June. Active listings dropped by 3.4 percent, pending listings fell 4.2 percent, sold listings decreased by 13.3 percent, and the average sales price dropped 4.5 percent. But, the average days on the market decreased by 1.4 percent.