Selling your home in the new year? It's a good news/bad news kind of market.

Is your New Year's resolution to sell your home? Well, I have some good news and some not so good news. 

Let's start with the good news. Prices have gone up in the Phoenix area month over month. For the period of August - October 2013 Phoenix saw a .9% average price increase. As shown in the list below that increase ranked Phoenix 3rd out of the top 20 cities in the U.S. but take note that only half of the major cities saw price increases during this period. We are very fortunate in the Phoenix area to be experiencing this type of increase.

The percentage change over the previous month was as follows for each of the 20 cities covered by the HPI:

1. Las Vegas 1.2%
2. Miami 1.1%
3. Phoenix 0.9%
4. Los Angeles 0.9%
5. Detroit 0.9%
6. Charlotte 0.6%
7. Minneapolis 0.5%
8. San Diego 0.3%
9. Portland 0.2%
10. Tampa 0.1%
11. New York 0.0%
12. Dallas -0.1%
13. San Francisco -0.2%
14. Atlanta -0.2%
15. Cleveland -0.2%
16. Boston -0.3%
17. Seattle -0.3%
18. Denver -0.4%
19. Washington DC -0.4%
20. Chicago -0.5%

Now for some not so great news, demand seems to be dipping quite a bit. So while it's great that you can now get more money for your home you may need to be a little more patient when trying to find the right buyer. Currently for all areas and types of sales there are 7,695 listings under contract. This may sound like a lot but considering the average over the last 8 years is 13,072 listings under contract  there is an obvious drop in home purchases. Take a glance over the list below to see how the contract ratios are fairing for your area. 

The contract ratios for single family homes by city are as follows (with the number for December 30, 2012 in parentheses):

1. Youngtown 65.2 (290.0)
2. Tolleson 62.9 (275.4)
3. Avondale 61.3 (181.5)
4. Glendale 52.3 (154.2)
5. Chandler 50.5 (136.0)
6. El Mirage 47.2 (179.7)
7. Laveen 46.8 (218.4)
8. Phoenix 42.6 (116.5)
9. Waddell 41.6 (48.9)
10. Mesa 40.7 (115.2)
11. Litchfield Park 39.6 (82.9)
12. Gilbert 37.5 (130.4)
13. Buckeye 36.5 (83.3)
14. Tempe 35.6 (93.4)
15. Maricopa 35.6 (55.7)
16. Goodyear 35.5 (74.7)
17. Peoria 33.6 (113.5)
18. Surprise 33.6 (71.6)
19. Anthem 32.7 (62.1)
20. Queen Creek 32.3 (70.1)
21. Wittmann 31.1 (19.6)
22. Apache Junction 29.6 (77.8)
23. Sun Lakes 29.0 (30.2)
24. Sun City West 28.2 (29.4)
25. Casa Grande 28.1 (68.6)
26. Florence 27.0 (33.7)
27. Sun City 25.8 (43.2)
28. Eloy 25.0 (11.1)
29. New River 23.1 (62.5)
30. Scottsdale 21.1 (38.4)
31. Cave Creek 20.5 (50.0)
32. Coolidge 20.5 (60.8)
33. Fountain Hills 19.3 (35.6)
34. Arizona City 16.5 (32.4)
35. Carefree 16.1 (11.3)
36. Paradise Valley 15.9 (21.6)
37. Gold Canyon 12.6 (20.2)
38. Tonopah 9.1 (23.5)
39. Wickenburg 8.4 (7.3)
40. Desert Hills 8.3 (71.4)
41. Rio Verde 8.2 (10.2)

We see some huge drops in demand over the last 12 months in most locations. The only locations seeing an improvement are Eloy, Wickenburg & Carefree

This is just a sign of what the last few months have been like for the housing market. It will be interesting to see what January and February bring as they will give us a clearer picture of what the housing market will be like in the spring. Keep in mind much of this information depends on the area you live in. There are some areas of the valley and specific neighborhoods that have continued to see impressive activity. Please contact me if you have any questions about your home or if you're curious as to what your home will sell for in today's market. 

Happy New Year!