Seasonality In Phoenix Home Sales

If you're in the market for a house than the playground probably seems busy to you despite all the hoopla about the national market being slow. You're having to compete with other buyers for homes and each time something hits the market you have to move you tush and get there fast to see the home before someone else snatches it up.

The dark red thick line represents sales in Phoenix in 2011.  All the other lines are sales in the last few years, 2006-2007 excepting because these were odd markets, not following the common trends. 

[Graph: The Cromford Report modified by inPhoenix Realty Group ]

The vertical black line is the beginning of July and the highlighted yellow area represents the peak time for sale each year which begins in spring and ends around mid summer depending on the city and area. The top is Phoenix while the bottom is Scottsdale. They both follow the same trends, but peak is about one month later in Scottsdale. 

The market has been buys this year. It will be interesting to see data for the next two months, but sales can be hampered by low inventory, not only a decline in demand. 

Does this really have an affect on pricing? Not really. There are too many other factors to consider if your a seller besides seasonal demand peaks and lows.

Remember though that sales always show up later than demand because of the time it takes to close a transaction: some 30-45 days.

In the winter sales dip in mid January as a result of low demand during the December holidays.