Thankful & Grateful

Welcome back to our What's Up Southeast Valley for the month of November!

Since our last broadcast, there have been many changes within our community, environment, work life, home life and how we conduct our days, including kids going back to school in an online work environment, and now with the upcoming holidays - we face a whole new set of challenges.

We are in this together and are THRIVING together!

Thrive On!

We continue to face our daily challenges and uncertain times together and are thankful and grateful for our team and all of your support! We are looking forward to the holidays and beautiful Arizona weather and can't wait to see photos of your family enjoying them too. After all of this year's ups and downs, we are THRIVING through ALL OF IT. We have remained diligent in supporting our community through highlighting local businesses, giving back through food, water & clothing drives, helping families continue to move forward through weekly COVID-19 challenges and changes, pivoting our business model to meet the needs of our clients & business partners, offering more virtual services, growing our team, finding new ways to thank our current and past clients, reaching as many of you as possible and spreading the word that we are here for you no matter what! We're looking forward to spending the holidays and the coming new year with you!

👀 Watch Our LIVE! 

We Are Hiring

The Amy Jones Group is growing! We are hiring Real Estate Sales Professionals to be based out of our Gilbert office. On pace to serve more than 165 families in 2020 alone, we are looking for EXPERIENCED agents to join our Southeast Valley team. Known for our excellent client care, exceptional negotiation skills, world class digital marketing, and being trusted advisors in the SE Valley for more than a decade - we are looking for hard working, ethical, creative, real estate professionals who love to learn and thrive in a team environment, where giving back and giving to each other is important to our overall success. For more information on who we are and how to apply, visit https://www.amyjonesgroup.com/careers or send your resume to [email protected]!

📈 Market Update

Here are the basics - the ARMLS numbers for November 1, 2020 compared with November 1, 2019 for all areas & types:

• Active Listings (excluding UCB & CCBS): 8,682 versus 14,525 last year - down 40.2% - but up 7.4% from 8,101 last month
• Active Listings (including UCB & CCBS): 13,901 versus 18,322 last year - down 24.1% - but up 4.5% compared with 13,305 last month
• Pending Listings: 7,862 versus 5,919 last year - up 32.8% - but down 1.7% from 7,999 last month
• Under Contract Listings (including Pending, CCBS & UCB): 13,081 versus 9,716 last year - up 34.6% - but down 0.9% from 13,203 last month
• Monthly Sales: 9,992 versus 8,037 last year - up 20.5% - and up 3.6% from 9,641 last month
• Monthly Average Sales Price per Sq. Ft.: $207.37 versus $174.14 last year - up 19.1% - and up 4.3% from $198.84 last month
• Monthly Median Sales Price: $332,000 versus $285,000 last year - up 16.5% - and up 1.6% from $326,800 last month

The flow of new listings remained strong until late October but has started to fade noticeably over the last week. Since we are already very short of supply, this does not bode well for buyers who are likely to be fighting each other over a dwindling list of homes for sale during the last 2 months of the year. With demand at a very high level, especially for the normally quiet fourth quarter, the market is even more out of balance than it was last month.

Closed sales were over 20% higher than in 2019 during October. This is even more remarkable given that in 2019 October had 23 working days, 1 more than in 2020. With the average price per square foot up over 19% from last year, the dollar volume is exceptionally high at $4,272 million, up from $2,786 million last year. And last year we thought we had a strong market. We are running out of superlatives to describe the state of the current market.

Average and median prices are running away skywards, but some of this is fuelled by a sales mix which increasingly favors upscale properties. During October we saw 37 closed listings over $3 million. This is not only the highest total for any October in history, it is the highest total for any month in history. The average for all months since 2001 is 9 and in October 2019 we counted 10.

The size of the market below $300,000 is shrinking fast, constrained by lack of supply and by the fact that last year's home at $270,000 is now priced well over $300,000. However any home priced under $300,000 is likely to see hordes of buyers.

Is there any sign of the upward surge in pricing losing pace. In a word - No.

At this time last year we had no idea of the impending pandemic, but unless something similarly surprising happens in the next few months, the housing market in Greater Phoenix is unlikely to stop rising.

While many people are waiting for the final results of the 2020 election, at least one thing is for certain in Greater Phoenix.  The housing market will not crash in 2021 regardless of the outcome. It may be hard to believe, but the new and resale housing markets don’t move quickly. Unlike the stock market where it takes a push of a button to sell a stock and record the price, it takes longer to sell a home between the marketing time and escrow process. In today’s market, it may take up to a week to negotiate an offer and another 30-45 days for the price to be publicly recorded.  When a market weakens, it takes longer.

Supply in Greater Phoenix has been gradually shrinking for 6 years and was the driver behind price appreciation until the pandemic. To put things in perspective, the Arizona Regional MLS should seasonally have between 25,000-30,000 listings active at this time of year; as of November 9th there are under 8,600.  That type of shortage doesn’t happen overnight and new construction will not be able to fill the gap quickly.

Listings Under Contract should seasonally have between 9,000-10,000 in escrow at this time of year;  as of November 9th there are over 13,000.  This level was reached in June and has stayed consistent for nearly 5 months. Even if demand were to scale back in 2021 and return to a normal level, the market would not see a massive drop in prices; just a slowing in appreciation.

The most important tip we can share with you in this market is simply to know your options. If you own a home, we'd recommend getting an updated evaluation of its value and the market conditions in your area - and if you are buying, definitely make sure your agent is market savvy. Gone are the days that you can walk into a builder and hand them your money if you are a buyer and trust us, knowing how to navigate 12 offers if you are a seller isn’t for the faint of heart. The good news is, this is what we LIVE for - this is why we’ve sharpened the tools in our toolboxes, brought on the best of the best in the industry at the Amy Jones Group (Did we mention that we were hiring? Who do you know?), and are here to serve. We are in this together and if you are ready to see what this might mean for your family, reach out to us - we LOVE seeing it all come together for you.

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Live.Love.Local - Connecting The Southeast Valley

In the last three months, we were able to connect with 6 local businesses and share their story with you through our social media website. Connecting with the community lights up our souls and we couldn't be more thrilled to get to know those who run our small businesses. It's so important that we support local, especially right now. Each business below is open, taking appointments, reserving parties and staying safe by following our state guidelines. Let's all do our part in keeping the economy alive, so that when it comes time to fully get back to life, we can all thrive once more.

Market of The Moment

Every week, our trusted Title partner, Don Czajkowski with Fidelity National Title has a meeting of the minds to talk about the ever changing real estate market, especially right now. This week, Mindy was a featured guest talking about inventory, new home builds, interest rates, tips to release the equity in your home, alternatives and options to give yourself more time to find a property to purchase when selling and what the Amy Jones Group has been up to this month. Check out all of the recent broadcasts below starting with the one from this week!

🙌 Hot on The Market 🙌

👏 Congratulations! Mazel Tov! ¡Felicidades!

None of this is possible without our amazing clients.
We'd love to help you or someone you love if we haven't already - or help you again!
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