27
THE SUNDAY SANTAN SUN NEWS | JUNE 19, 2022
Buyers get no relief from tumbling sellers’ position BY PAUL MARYNIAK Executive Editor
Valley homeowners who are hoping to sell their house appear to be heading for rocky water, according to several reports last week. The Cromford Report, a leading analyst of housing market trends in the Maricopa and Pinal counties, said one of the biggest factors threatening to dethrone sellers from the catbird seat they‘ve enjoyed in negotiations for several years is a mix of rising supply and falling demand. “Demand continues to fall in most areas but the dominant effect is now the rise in supply, with new listings arriving at a pace that is well above average,” it said, predicting that Buckeye, Queen Creek and Maricopa already are close to a balanced market, where bidding wars have evaporated and sellers no longer can call all the shots. Nevertheless, the news also doesn’t offer much hope for buyers looking for “moderate” prices. Indeed, the meaning of “moderate” may not be at a new normal in the Valley and elsewhere in the country. “The upper end of the market is See
MARKET on page 28
This 1,900-square-foot, two-story townhouse on W. Market Place in Sun Lakes recently sold for $572,00, below its $615,000 listing price. The four-bedroom, three-bath house, built in 2017, boasted richly appointed finishes with lots of natural light. (Special to SanTan Sun News)
Rental scene may be changing – for now BY PAUL MARYNIAK Executive Editor
The rental market both locally and nationally is cooling a bit – but analysts said two weeks ago there might not be much reason to celebrate on either front. Apartmentlist.com, a nationwide rental listing firm, said trends in apartment vacancies and rent indicate that more empty apartments are entering the market and rent increases are slowing, but that likely won’t remain the case long-term. And looking at the Phoenix Metro area, the Cromford Report said that even the limited rental data available on the Arizona Regional Multi Listing Service shows that “though the median lease price has increased over the 12 months, far more listings are leasing below the asking price and far more listings are appearing on the ARMLS database. “Landlords do not bother to list their properties on the MLS if they expect them to lease up very quickly and easily,” the Cromford Report said. “So the fact that we are seeing a 40% increase in new rental listings compared with 2021 shows us that landlords are less confident than they were a year ago.” Nevertheless, sales of apartment complexes are continuing at a major
pace – often at prices that are more than double what they sold for only a few years ago. The Cromford Report said that in the Valley, nearly three-quarters of the 1,473 leases that closed in May 2021 came in at the asking rental price while 18.3% were below. By contrast, last month saw just over half of the 1,954 closed leases settle at the asking price and 41.6% fall below it. Still, the median closed lease price last month was $2,200 – higher than the $1,900 median a year ago. “The rental listings on ARMLS are not a balanced cross-section of the rental market,” the Cromford Report ApartmentList.com showed this nationwide trajectory in apartment vacancies and rent increases, but said cautioned. “They tend these favorable trends may be adversely affected by cooling home sales. (apartmentlist.com) to be skewed towards higher-end properties increased by just 2 percent over the patch around $2,200,” it said, adding and single-family homes past six months, during which time the that the 2,385 vacancies reported on rather than relatively affordable apartcity’s vacancy index has gradually eased June 5 was up 26% from Jan. 1 and 79% ments.” back to 5 percent, close to where it form Sept. 1. “Rental prices have not changed a lot was before the onset of the pandemic,” Those trends are similar to what in the last five months and the median apartmentlist.com reported. lease price seems to have hit a stable “In Phoenix, for example, rents have See on page 28
RENT
