An Update on Our Current Market Situation

By Jason Penrose

Jason has been licensed since 1999, and is currently one of the top 20 agents in Arizona for homes sold.

Let’s talk about the real estate market for October 2022. It’s night and day from last year. Here are some of the most important statistics:

• 24,861 homes are available this year compared to 15,170 last year. That’s a 63.8% increase.
• 8,037 new homes came on the market this year compared to 10,276 last year. That’s a 21% decrease.
• 5,411 homes were sold last month compared to 8,777 last October. That’s a 39% decrease.
• The supply of inventory went from 1.73 months last year to 4.59 months this year. That’s a 265% increase.

We have many more homes for sale, fewer homes coming on the market, and fewer homes are selling. This is happening because of interest rates. The Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates—they just went up another 0.75%. While that does not directly impact mortgage rates, it does affect the bond market, which pushes up interest rates. Mortgage rates are now over 7%, and buyers’ purchasing power continues to decrease.

With all of this going on, is it a good time to move? In a certain way, yes. If you sell your home now, you’ll get a great deal when you go to buy, and there are more homes to choose from. Earlier this year, you could sell your home, get multiple offers, and let the price shoot up. However, it was hard to find a home, and when you did, you were paying well over the asking price. Things have changed. You and the seller both need to drop the price to get the home sold, so it comes out in the wash. 

What about rates? They’re over 7%, so should you wait until they come down? Right now, the Fed seems hellbent on raising rates even higher because inflation is still out of control. Locking in today’s rates in the 7% range could be a steal because we could see rates of 8%, maybe even 9%, going into next year. The Fed could change direction, but they’re giving no signal of doing that because inflation is still out of control.

If you’d like to talk about getting your property sold or buying a home in this market, give us a call at (602) 738-9943 or send an email to jason@thepenroseteam.com. We’d love to hear from you!