I got a call from a reader yesterday about the Scottsdale real estate market. She was worried that home prices might be weakening in her area. Also, she had watched this video of mine where I stumbled onto some erratic graphs for the Scottsdale real estate market.

Before I checked out the situation in her community, I reviewed the Scottsdale real estate market as a whole and that’s what I’m showing you here.

Click any of the charts to enlarge them.

Scottsdale Price per Square Foot Weird

Scottsdale Price per Square Foot Homes Sold

Click images to enlarge.

The price per square foot in Scottsdale increased sharply from October to January but then fell sharply in February 2016. What’s going on? Is February an anomaly or a trend?

Scottsdale home sales strong

Scottsdale Home Sales

The number of homes sold in Scottsdale in February were up 3% compared to February 2015. So the number of home sales is fine.

Number of homes listed for sale up 14% in Scottsdale

Scottsdale homes for sale

That inventory change could be causing some of the market weirdness.

Inventory up 21% in far North Scottsdale

North Scottsdale homes for sale

Okay, home sales are up a bit in Scottsdale but the supply of homes for sale is up a lot more, especially in far north Scottsdale in zip codes 85266 and 85262.

New listings hitting the market up 24% in Scottsdale in February

Scottsdale New Listings Feb 2015 vs 2016

There’s the culprit! More people are putting their homes up for sale in Scottsdale this year. But was February a fluke or a trend?

Number of new listings in early March double last year!

Scottsdale New Listings March 2016

It’s only 4 days so I assume it’s a fluke but, Yikes!, double is a big number.

I’m going to assume it reflects a longer term trend this year of more people in Scottsdale deciding to put their homes up for sale.

Conclusions

It’s still early in the high season. I’ll have a much better idea of what the 2016 Scottsdale real estate market is going to look like in a month.

I had assumed that Scottsdale home prices would increase strongly in 2016 – as strong or stronger than in 2015.

But if the number of homes hitting the market continues at the February pace, then Scottsdale home price appreciation won’t be as high in 2016 as it was in 2015. 

I don’t know exactly why the new listings are increasing so much. If you have a theory, please leave a comment.

I don’t think the rest of the Phoenix real estate market is seeing this but I was only diving into the Scottsdale market today.

Stay tuned.

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