METRO PHOENIX HOME INVENTORIES CONTINUE THEIR FALL

Yes, the good news keeps coming. Inventory of single family homes here in Metro Phoenix continue to decline and a surprising rate. When we crossed from March to April I expected a good decline in inventory, but was wondering to the extent. You see Realtors typically set their listings to expire at the end of the month with retail sellers(retail in non-bank owned or short sale). They do this to squeeze a few extra days in their listing agreement. An agent lists April 10th on a 6 month contract, and they typically will have it expire October 31st, thus getting 6.5 month agreement. Banks, on the other hand, they give 3 to 4 months from list date exactly. So, that made me wonder how great the fall off in inventory would actually be crossing from March to April. My tracking is cut off at the end of the day on Mondays, March ended on the 30th. Inventory fell by 1,156. I thought, well we caught the expiring properties this week. The next week inventory fell by 1,714. I thought, WOW, the majority came in on the 31st. But then the next week, last week, inventory fell by 1,156 as of now 7 am on Monday. My tracking cuts off at the end of today, so that is not the full extent. This is fantastic for our market. Demand is out stripping Supply by great lengths!!!!
Inventory Jan 1, 2009 43,000
Inventory Feb 1, 2009 42,056
Inventory March 1, 2009 39,900
Inventory April 1, 2009 37,250
Inventory Today, April 13, 2009 34,883
Based on closings over the past 4 weeks, we now have 5.2 months supply of single family homes for sale in Metro Phoenix. This is the point were we transition to a seller's market. Let's see what happens!