Price (green line)
The median single family home price in metro Phoenix fell to $145,000 in December, according to local MLS data.
In June 2006, the median single family home price peaked at $264,800. That means the median home price was 83% higher at the peak than it was last month, December 2008.
Sales (blue line)
Single family homes sales in metro Phoenix in December were very strong for a December, 4,982 homes. Home sales in December were more than November sales (4,050) which is another sign of a strong market.
The slowest month for closed sales is always January which reflects slow sales in the holiday month of December. It’s not unusual for closings to drop over 1,000 units between December and January. If it turns out that January’s closings are strong relative to December’s, that will give us a good idea of how strong the Arizona real estate market will be in 2009.
Listings (red line)
The number of homes listed for sale fell from mid-December to mid-January.
Listings usually rise significantly from January to February, except during the boom years of 2004 and 2005. How housing inventory changes between January and February will be another clue to the strength of the 2009 Arizona homes market.
Conclusion
The median single family home price of $145,000 in December was the lowest since April 2003 – that’s over 5 and one-half years ago. The median home price fell by 6% ($10,000) from November to December (to $145,000).
(“MLS Listings” are measured at one point in time, usually the 15th day of the current month. “Median Price” of homes sold and the total number of home “MLS Sales” are for the entire preceding month.)