Pending Sales – What’s On The Horizon

One of the categories that I look at on a weekly basis is the number of units "Pending" in the MLS. "Pending" indicates that the seller has received and accepted an offer from a buyer to purchase their home. Most escrow periods last approximately 30-60 days, therefore, looking at this number gives me a pretty good idea of what we can expect in "Sold" numbers over the next 30-60 days. I don't necessarily look at this number to try and predict the exact number of Sold listings, but more so to get an idea of how the market is trending.

Since the first of the year, we've seen an increase in the amount of activity on our listings. In a completely non-scientific measurement we knew that the activity levels were increasing. And it's always nice to confirm with actual numbers that our hunch was accurate. Over the past six weeks, the number of units Pending in the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS) as a whole has increased by almost 32%, and by just over 34% for Single Family Detached Homes in Maricopa County.










As you can see, the number of units in Pending status has steadily increased since the beginning of the year. Hopefully this trend continues throughout the weeks to come. We still have a long way to go, with almost 56,000 homes for sale in ARMLS, but I'll take any kind of good news that I can right now.

-Steve Nicks

[tags] Phoenix Real Estate, Real Estate Market Analysis, Desert Ridge Real Estate [/tags]