The basic March 2016 numbers are in for Maricopa County recordings with Affidavits of Value and they are looking very positive. We count a total of 9.639 closed transactions for single family and condo properties which represents a 12% increase over March 2015. Since March 2015 was 17% higher than March 2014, this is a big 31% increase over 2 years. The year over year unit volume increase was even more impressive for new homes, up a startling 50%, making the re-sale market's gain of 8% look paltry in comparison. New home market share has risen from 9.7% in March 2015 to 12.7% in March 2016. Before getting too excited we should remember that this is nowhere the peak of the market, when new homes represented 40.6% of December 2006 transactions.
The median sales price is up 8.4% from $211,320 in March 2015 to $229,000 in March 2016. The median sales price for new homes actually fell by 2% from $321,085 to $315,229, as there are now larger numbers of less expensive new homes below $300,000 entering the new home mix. Median sales prices are close to useless for measuring new homes. You have to use average price per sq ft to compensate adequately for the changes in the mix.
The median sales price for resale homes rose from $200,000 in March 2015 to $217,00 in March 2016, an annual rise of 8.5%.
Note that transactions without affidavits are excluded from all the above numbers. This includes HUD sales, trustee sales, and REO sales processed by the out of state title companies Quality Escrow and Servicelink. Both of these title companies continue to completely misunderstand Arizona law regarding exemptions from affidavits. If the county assessors ever notice, the title companies could be in legal trouble for claiming false exemptions for their lender clients.
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