Overall, the valley has taken a downturn in price over the last month. We have had a general imbalance in supply vs demand over the last year, but only now are we seeing the first downward price trends. That being said, not all areas are doing poorly. Sometimes we can get caught up in looking at the month to month. Phoenix is still doing better than this time last year. That cannot be said however, of every city here in the valley. Chandler and Tempe for example, are now less per sq. ft. then they were this time last year.
Time will tell if this is a little temporary dip, as is normal in a healthy and balanced market, or evidence of a longer lasting decline. We can get into a lot of trouble when we broadcast our opinions of the future, because of course we can’t guarantee anything. So take what I’m about to say with more than a few grains of salt. We expect prices to continue to dip over the next months, but not some sort of cataclysmic downturn like we had 5 years ago, just a gradual softening.
Hopefully demand will pick up in the spring in response to the improving job market and we will see an upward trend begin again. We know that people want to buy houses as much as they ever have, what they lack is ability and confidence. Only a little time can re-introduce some optimism into these potential buyers.
