What a difference a year makes! 

It seems like many peopel are never happy.  In real estate that especailly seems to hold true.  First I hear complaints about prices dropping.  Now a few years later prices are rising and invetory has fallen.  So, the complaint now is it is hard to find a home.  Inventory levels are low, but there are still many choices out there.  It's just that there is also a lot of competition for that inventory. 

The big drop in inventory really occured over 2010-2011.  We have seen continued strengthening in the market, but the sale price appreciation didn't really kick in until inventory levels settled under $20K units.  In the chart below you will see that in the first quarter of 2013 compared to the first quarter of 2012, sales increased roughly 10%, while inventory dropped about 9%.  Overall supplies of inventory dropped significantly in all price categories except for $3M+.  In the Phoenix market, a balanced market is considered to have 3-4 months worth of inventory.  In price points below $500K (the majority of the market) inventory is sitting in the seller market range.  Many properties are selling with multiple offers.  Statistics in the chart were obtained from ARMLS STAT+ report.

Q1 2013 Vs Q1 2012

                               Avg /Mo Solds                    Avg/Mo Actives
                                Q1 2013 /2012                Q1 2013 / 2012              Q1 DOM                  Q1 MSI       % change Y2Y

Price Range
30,000-100,000            1305 / 1910                     1470 / 3688                 71 / 80                  1.13/ 1.93         - 41.5

100,001-250,000          3779 / 3167                     7792 / 7870                65 /82                    2.06 / 2.49         - 17.3

250,001-500,000          1358 /  846                     4594 /4189                 81  / 105                 3.38 / 4.95          -24.6

500,001-750,000          215 / 154                       1239 / 1175                111 / 131                 5.75 / 7.63          -25.6

750,001-1,000,000        69  / 49                         694 / 666                    139 / 196               10.10 / 13.59        -21.6

1,000,001-1,500,000       46 / 34                         505 / 479                  141 / 257                  11.05 / 14.09       -21.6

1,500,001-2,000,000       20/ 12                          315 /302                   217 / 393                   15.73 / 25.17       -37.5

2,000,001-3,000,000        8 / 7                           256 / 286                   264  / 196                 33.43 / 40.86        -18.2

3,000,001 and up             4 / 4                           242 /  210                  262 / 402                  60.58 / 52.50         15.4