COVID, Could it Bring Foreclosures to Flagstaff?

Here is an update through the end of August and then through the middle of September.

The Month of August was one interesting month in Real Estate, to say the least!

Interest Rates are staying low, Buyers are out in droves trying to take advantage of those rates, and Sellers have been hesitant to put their homes on the market for a number of reasons.

What were some of the reasons for fewer homes coming to the market? There may be two primary reasons, the Covid situation and the seller hesitant in allowing people in their homes, second, if they sell and downsize or even upsize, will they be able to find a home?

For the month of August for all home types, Single Family, Condo, Townhome and Manufactured.

We sold 24.6% more homes.  This is 218 homes sold compared to August 2019 of 175 homes. Year to date we have sold 20.5% more homes. 

For the month of August, we had -12.7% FEWER homes come to the market.
At the end of August, we had -38.5% fewer homes active, available to purchase on the market compared to the year before.
Our Absorption Rate, the number of months it would take at the current sales rate to sell all our current homes on the market, plummeted to 2.73 months, down from 5.2 months for August 2019.
Our Year to Date Median Sales Price for all home types is up 9.09% to $420,000.  

Switching gears some,
Our Single-Family home median prices thru September 16th, 2020 are up 11.9% to $485,000.
Year to date again for single family, we have sold 25.1% more homes, while during the same time frame 4.0% fewer homes come to the market.
In  numbers, we have sold 175 more homes this year than last and 44 fewer have come to the market, a difference of 219 homes, which is a big difference and no wonder we have such a tight inventory of active homes on the market.

What do we see in the future?
That Crystal Ball is a little cloudy, 
What we do know is that interest rates from recent reports may remain low for quite some time.
Buyers are out there; they have not found the homes they need today because there are so few to be had, so they will continue to look.

There is a chance that more homes may start to come to the market as sellers see the upside in selling in the current market, but it still comes down to where will they go?
Then there is the Second Home Market? 
There is a possibility that those owners may decide it is time to take advantage of this hot market, especially if they have not been using their second home as much as they had hoped or family dynamics have changed.

There are lots of dynamics happening in the Real Estate market and I would enjoy speaking to you if you have any questions.
Please never hesitate to reach out, as I have said in the past, if it is not about Real Estate, there is Gardening, Hiking, Biking or Golf we can talk about. I would enjoy visiting.
Stay Safe and Healthy during these Interesting Times

Jeff

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