A housing report from the real estate firm RE/MAX showed, when compared to last year, November 2018 saw fewer sales but also fewer days on market and higher prices.
The number of Maricopa County home sales was down 8.5 percent from November 2017. Pinal County sales were down 7.7 percent over the same period.
The median price for a Maricopa County home was $261,803, up 6.9 percent from a year before. In Pinal County, the median year-over-year price increase was 13 percent, from $190,000 to $214,450.
Homes sold faster as well. Maricopa County homes sold four days faster, spending about 58 days on the market. Pinal County spent about 61 days on the market, which is 8 days faster than last year.
None of the changes are stark enough to be particularly alarming, according to Nate Martinez, a real estate agent in Phoenix.
But with interest rates rising, some first-time buyers could see a tougher market.
“When prices jump from 245 to 261 and the interest rates jump from about 4 percent to almost 5 percent, it does affect the buyers’ ability to buy in that entry-level marketplace,” he said.
Martinez predicts that with interest rates going up, the price increases will plateau over the next few months.
“I’m gonna say the market’s gonna plateau, I don’t think it’s gonna drop,” he said. “But we will not probably see a seven percent increase as we saw the last 12 months.”
