Real Estate Market Update - July 29

Here is our latest table of Cromford® Market Index values for the single-family markets in the 17 largest cities

At first sight this looks bad. We have only 2 cities showing an increase in their Cromford® Market Index over the past month, half as many as last week. Avondale and Queen Creek have reversed course leaving Scottsdale and Maricopa alone. 15 have declined, so the vast majority have deteriorated for sellers. However most of these only fell by a small percentage. Former high-fliers Tempe, Gilbert and Chandler show the biggest falls.

After a second look, things look a lot better. The average change in CMI over the past month is -5.4%, a smaller fall than the -6.7% we saw last week. The rate of decline has definitely changed direction and this is a positive sign for the market. Things are deteriorating more slowly.

9 out of 17 cities remain seller's markets over 110, though that looks unlikely to last much longer for Tempe and Gilbert. We have 2 cities that are balanced, while the remaining 6 are buyer's markets. 3 cities still remain over 140.

One of the largest markets by dollar volume (Scottsdale) has improved by 6% over the last month. Given that we are in the middle of the slowest season for luxury homes, this is another encouraging sign for that market.