I am writing this article as a kind of fun article about our Phoenix market. Like the Phoenix real estate market going into this year the Phoenix Coyotes were basically left for dead. Neither got a lot of press or had many superstars. Looking back though, the core of each was basically solid and the potenitial to rise quickly was there. Also like the Coyotes, I am not willing as of this date to declare them the Stanley Cup Champions or that the entire Phoenix market is healed. That being said, every single indicator in the Phoenix market is headed in the right direction. Our average sales price is up more than $35,000 since last August. The number of homes for sale 3 years ago was approaching 55,000 now with a 32 months supply of homes. Now we are around 10,000 with less than 2 months supply.
Phoenix and the suburbs are often criticized as being bandwagon fans and that is true to some extent but I have been a fan of the Coyotes since they came here. I attended the very first game every played at the Glendale Arena. Interesting piece of trivia about that first game that I witnesses myself, the first two pucks to ever go into the crowd at the Glendale Arena, were caught by the exact same fan. The fan fare was great then but the financial woes and a lack of winning bogged the team down for a few years just like the real estate market has had a few years with a lack of winning (and a lot of losing).
I have great hopes for the Coyotes in the Western Conference Finals and hopefully the Stanley Cup Finals although they still are only half way there as of this writing. I believe the same to be true with the Phoenix real estate market, about half way home. I don't mean we are halfway back to where prices need to be. It may be a very long time before we ever achieve the prices we saw in 2004 and 2005. I believe the pendulum has swung the other way on pricing and now when it finally stablilizes to a normal supply of homes for sale, perhaps we can enjoy a few years of normal appreciation where buyers are confident that real estate is not a losing proposition and the lending and appraisal industries will get back to some semblance of normal. Just as the new ownership of the Coyotes will likely stabilize the franchise, a couple years of normal market will stabilize our home and construction industry.
Good luck to all and lets all root for the Coyotes as a community even the Kings fans.
