As we started September, there were 830 homes available on the market, a slightly increase from August's figure of 806.

Last year our inventory peaked in September and I think we are likely to see the same trend again this year.

As far as demand is concerned, there were 241 pending sales for August, compared to 269 for the same period in 2022. So we still have about 90% of the number of buyers in the marketplace.

Closings had a little uptick from 226 in July to 256 last month.

Interest rates continue to be volatile. There is no way that I can predict what is going to happen there. Two weeks ago we were at 7.5% - the highest rates in the last 25 years. Then they floated back down again to about 7% and since then have been hovering in the 7.25% - 7.3% range.

We'll continue to monitor rates and there's a lot of speculation about what is going to happen. I read one article that said the Federal Reserve is going to hold still until maybe the end of the year, possibly providing a bit of relief. I've read other articles that say it's going to be full speed ahead with additional rate increases. We just don't know exactly what is going to happen.

When you look at the closings that transpired in August, in Prescott homes were on the market on average for 58 days - a big discrepancy with the homes that are active on the market. Those homes sold for 98% of their asking price on average. Prescott Valley saw a little uptick with homes selling on average for 99% of the asking price - some of the new construction activity out there might be contributing to that. Homes were on the market in Prescott Valley for an average of 33 days.

Looking at the active inventory in our entire area, we are still at an average 110 days on market, whereas homes that are selling are on the market closer to 55 days on average, MLS-wide.

So I took a look at all the homes that sold in the area last month and the average sales price was $309 per square foot. The average active inventory for the whole area is priced at around $350 per square foot.

I am not saying that pricing is everything, but there is some active inventory out there that is likely priced a little bit high. Sellers are probably holding onto past numbers in markets and those prices may have to come down to sell. It's not the only factor. A lot of marketing and market exposure goes into it, but it's something to keep in mind.

As far as values are concerned, Prescott saw a slight decline last month by 3.7%, Prescott Valley had a little uptick of 4.3% and Chino Valley went down a little by 1.7%. MLS-wide, prices changed by only half a percent in the negative.

When you look at demand versus supply, we have about a 13 week supply of homes in the market. This is pretty normal as far as what we have been seeing, including the "seller strike" of people wanting to hang on to those historic interest rates.

We'll continue to monitor everything moving forward. What I can say right now is that there is still lots of activity in the market. We've seen a sharp increase in activity over the past couple of months and interest rates seem to be kind of settling in the low 7% range, but of course we don't know exactly where they are headed.

If you're a buyer, remember that there are seller concessions you can ask for. If you're a seller, things are fairly stable.

If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to contact me at 928-237-4425.

Have a great day,

Geoff

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