Cottonwood Home Team
The #1 Seller of Real Estate in the Verde Valley
There is good news in the second quarter results. The median sales price dropped 4% from the first quarter but the number of sales increased 21%. That is a good sign but also one of consistency compared to past years.
Since 2005, the second quarter has always closed more homes than the first, third and fourth quarters. Whether that is due to spring break fever or attempting to get things moved for the summer we never know but it will be interesting to see what happens in the third quarter of this year.
The dramatic increase in the number of sales is also a sign that many feel they have waited long enough to jump into the market. Interest rates at this time remain stable so depending on the price point owning is cheaper than rent.
January 1st 2010 to June 28 2010 vs. January 1st 2011 to June 28 2011 saw a major jump. The number of sold homes in the Cottonwood-Clarkdale-Verde Village-Cornville areas jumped from 229 to 263. That is an increase of 13%!
However, the average sales price in that same time period dropped 17% and the median sales price dropped 19%. So good news bad news?? Depends on if you are a seller or buyer.
It appears that the "new" real estate values are assiting first time and move up buyers and the lower interest rates are proving that it is cheaper to buy vs. continuing to rent. Don't be one of those on the side lines, if the interest rate increases 1% the values would have to decrease 10% on average to have the same house payment.
Take advantage of one of the benefits to this "new" economy.
So far June is proving to be a good month. According to our SVVAR mls system, 24 site built homes in the Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Verde Village and Cornville area have gone pending since June 1st.
That is a large number and shows a positive sign of strength for the summer. The hope is we will stay on track for the rest of the summer months. To help give you a gauge, 37 homes sold in the month of May. We are already at 65% of that and still have 2 full weeks left.
What we do see is the market under $100,000 is almost completely gone and the next break at $125,000 does not have much available. We will have a more accurate picture once we see the closed sales for June but for now the news is promising.
