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At a time when we would expect to see inventory spike due to sellers that had waited out the holiday season putting properties on the market, we are seeing the inventory remain stable, and actually decrease, albiet slightly.

Reviewing the Phoenix MLS data for the same period one year ago, new listings coming onto the market are down 21% and properties under contract are up 55%.  Properties that have closed escrow are up 53%.  As we know, sales prices are down 41% over last year, however, if we continue melting inventory, we could hope to see price stabilization.  Sellers pricing their properties realistically are on average receiving 95% of their list price for their property.

Interest rates increased slightly this week.  I would anticipate that they will continue to bounce between 5%-6% for a while.

Current conditions in the Phoenix market:

Today there are 43,000 single family detached listings actively being marketed in MLS.  That is a decrease of 82 listings from last week.  We saw a slight decrease last week, as well.  That is a bit unusual for this time of year, in a positive way.

Total listings (including condos, town-homes, and patio homes) active in MLS today is 52,557 which is a decrease of 16 listings from last week.  Again, 16 is not a huge number, but the idea that we are not seeing a swell in inventory is interesting.

The overall absorption rate (the number of listings going pending, versus the number of active listings) has held steady at 11% again, this week.