Like all home sales in the U.S., May numbers slipped significantly from April, as shown in the Phoenix Business Journal. However, sales in the West fared better than any other region.
The National Association of Realtors said that overall, existing home sales in May were over 19% above those in May of 2009 nationally.
The biggest gains were in the West. May sales rose up 4.9% from April, and prices were up 15.2% over prices a year ago. The NAR does not break down numbers by state, but Arizona is in the western region.
“We are witnessing the ongoing effects of the homebuyer tax credit, which we’ll also see in June real estate closings,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. “However, approximately 180,000 homebuyers who signed a contract in good faith to receive the tax credit may not be able to finalize by the end of June due to delays in the mortgage process, particularly for short sales.”
The good news is there’s been a small reprieve for those 180,000 pushing paperwork to get the benefits of the tax credit. Congress recently passed a tax credit closing extension that now places the closing deadline at September 30, 2010.
Arizona State University also recently released a report showing projections that Phoenix housing prices will gain a little and taper off in the coming months.
In April, 49% of existing home sales were from first-time homebuyers seeking to use the tax credit, and 46% of those first-time homebuyers accounted for existing home sales in May. These first-time homebuyer numbers are expected to trickle into June sales, and with the recent deadline extension, it’s possible those numbers could trickle further into the next month or two.
At the end of May, total housing inventory represented an 8.3 month supply, down from the 8.4 month supply that existed in April. A healthy housing market is generally supposed to have less than a 6 month supply. There are plenty of houses available, interest rates are at record lows, and housing prices are way cheap. If you’re thinking of buying, ask us how we can close on your new home in just 10 days. 
