Good News Continues for Landlords – For Renters, not so Good

More reports coming in are further demonstrating a local real estate market that continues to strengthen in a number of facets.

First off, the rental market continues to see strong demand in single family detached (SFD) listings on the market, with the number of active listings dropping further in the past month with but a 27 day supply of available rentals. The average lease listing price is $2077 per month.

The market for condo rentals has loosened somewhat with 57 days of supply, up from last month’s number of 54. The average asking list price for these rentals is now $1654 per month. Landlords are continuing to enjoy this rental market for sure.

As demand continues for rentals, this will undoubtedly push renters into the home buying market which will then continue to put upward pressure on sales prices – an interesting scenario that could have both rental and home prices increase. If this happens, it will also help the building industry, as our need for housing supply in the Valley. (See next story)

 

Substantial Building Permit Increase

     Building permit numbers just released by the census bureau for March show that Central Arizona’s building permits recorded their highest level since 2007 with 1438 permits issued in Maricopa and Pinal counties.. This is an increase of 43% over last month!

 

Northeast and Southeast Valley Improves Slightly For Home Buyers… West Side Not so Much

     New listings have started to arrive faster than they did last year and are up 2.1% for the quarter to date. They are up 5.4% quarter to date compared with 2013. Because we are at the height of the buying season, the additional supply is not increasing the total number of active listings. However they are not declining as they were in February and March and this will moderate the market in some areas. Unfortunately for both sellers and buyers the new supply tends to be arriving fastest in the areas that need it least. The West Valley remains very short of supply while the Northeast and many parts of the Southeast are starting to look a little better from a buyer’s perspective.

Thank you Michael Orr and ASU (Cromford Report) for the statistical data on all of the above reports