Pam's Prescott Blog

Yesterday on this blog, I posted some links to a few charts from the Prescott Area Association of Realtors showing market activity in Phoenix, Prescott, and the Median Price for Single Family Homes over the last 10 years.

What these show are some not-unexpected trends, and some hopeful signs for this spring.

In Phoenix, sales increased markedly from January 2008 to July of that year.  There was another up-tick in September and then more free-fall until mid-November, and sales have been climbing since.  We can only hope the upward trend continues.  I do not have access at this time to exact figures on the median price of a home in Phoenix, but I do know that we are hearing on national news outliets that Phoenix has officially bottomed out, (whatever that means).

In the greater Prescott area, we saw exactly the same pattern as Phoenix did (probably all the Phoenicians who sold homes moved up here!)  Statistically, Chino Valley had the biggest drop off, with a 72% decline in homes sold from the highest month, August '08, to the lowest, November.  So clients of mine in Chino, it wasn't your imagination.  Sales were dismal.  The good news is, those sales nearly doubled last month, and that pattern should continue.

The median price for a single family home in the greater Prescott area (Prescott, Chino Valley, Prescott Valley, Dewey) has fallen almost 16% from its high in 2006 to $216,000 today.  What is interesting here is that from 1996 to 2004, the average increase in prices in this area was about 7.4% per year.  If we take out the bubble years of 2005 and 2006, and apply that growth rate up to today, it shows that had the bubble and bust not occurred, we would be at a medium home price of $238,000 today.  So that medium home price is a good value, and may continue to get better in the coming months.

My conclusions?  If you are a seller, get ready.  Buyers are coming back this spring.  Be ready for them with a great price, a well-maintained and a well-advertised home.  If you are a buyer, get moving.  These great deals really will not last forever.