The number of sales in Phoenix has risen to a record high during the first quarter of 2011, largely due to cash buyers and investors purchasing distressed property. Foreclosure sales and short sales are still accounting for a huge portion of the market and the median sale price is still dropping.
Sales figures for March showed that 10,352 new and resale properties were bought which is up a staggering 44.3% from the previous month, and 7.5% from March 2010 according to DataQuick who track property trends nationally through public property records.
It's normal to see a sharp rise in sales between February and March as the property buying season gets underway in earnest, but this year's increase is larger than normal. The average increase would be about 30% according to records kept by DataQuick since 1994. The March sales figures were the highest for that particular month since March 2007 and are just 1% short of the average number of sales for this month.
In spite of this, sales of new properties are at their lowest levels for 14 years as builders are unable to compete with bargain priced foreclosure properties.
A huge 41.2% of all property transactions in March were for homes costing less than $100,000 which is up from 40% in February and 30.6% in March last year. Property investors bought 47.1% of homes sold in Phoenix, and this is the highest level for any time during the last decade.
The median price of property in Phoenix was $119,000 which is down 11.9% from March 2010. Foreclosure sales accounted for 53.1% of property purchases in March, down from 66.2% in March 2009.
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