We'll start this month with the inventory side of things. As of May 1st, there were 1118 properties on the market. That is more than we've seen as of May 1st in over a decade,

In an article from Newsweek, realtor.com says that inventory on a national level has surged 31% year-over-year. Prescott is not too far off of that mark. We've had a 27% increase in inventory year-over-year.

So is it doom and gloom? Is the sky falling? No.

Interest rates are not coming down or going up dramatically. They've been fairly stable. Interest rates as of May 1st were about 6.9%, which is pretty much where they've been plus or minus.

There's been some major volatility. There was one week, just a few weeks back, where we had a six-month low and a six-month high in interest rates in a span of one week. Here in the last week or so, they've been just basically holding steady.

I was on the phone with a prospective buyer this morning and, of course, the first question from that buyer is, tell me your overall feel for the market. I'm seeing tons of price reductions. Does that mean that I should hold off and the market is coming down? Which is a great question. And it's a natural question for a buyer to ask in times like this. And if you go to sites like realtor.com, Redfin, Zillow, any of those sites, you're going to see price reduced, price reduced, price reduced.

Generally speaking, what you're seeing is overpriced listings finally responding to the market and reducing their price.

When you look at days on market, the MLS average for those homes that did go under contract last month, it took 60 days to attract an offer. And I'm very careful how I frame that because, remember, it's from the time they hit the market to the time that they attract an offer.

Those numbers are actually creeping down just a little bit. If you recall, over the past few months, they've been closer to 70, 75, 80 days on market. But overall MLS average was 60, Prescott being 54, Prescott Valley 62 and Chino Valley 58.

Here's something that I am noticing. Sellers are realizing that it is not quite as strong or robust of a market as maybe they were accustomed to in recent history.

One of the numbers that I always talk about is the active inventory. When you look at the 1118 homes that are on the market right now, last month I reported to you that those homes were on the market for close to 100 or 110 days, if memory serves. Well, now we're seeing that they've come down a little bit - 90 days on market, but instead of being priced 14.5% over the market average for what homes are selling for as a whole, that number has come down. So now they're only overpriced by 13% and the days on market have come down from 120 to 90.

So what we're seeing is a lot of price reductions in the market. But when the buyer asked me specifically, well, what do you think? Is now a good time? Should I just hold off? The only thing that I know what to do is to go to the numbers.

Year-over-year, our MLS has slid in terms of values by 1.5%. It's almost negligible at that point, almost flat year-over-year, but with some peaks and valleys. If you look at the charts that I produce, you'll see that some months it's up and some months it's down 2 or 3% and then it rebounds and so forth. But on a year-over-year basis, we're within 1%

Of that inventory of 1118 homes, 548 of them are in Prescott, 247 in Prescott Valley and 95 are in Chino Valley. So we'll continue to monitor where we're at overall.

We've talked a lot about a balanced market being widely accepted as a six-month supply, 5 to 7 months. Last month we were at 5.2. This month we're at 5.2.

We did see an uptick, in terms of buyer activity for the month of April. Pending sales were up 4.5% year-over-year, so the buyers are still in the marketplace right now and we're seeing strong buyer demand. 268 properties went pending last month. I again just want to stress and emphasize those are site-built single family homes that are on the market.

There are a lot of articles being published in the news that certain areas of the country are very depressed right now, with massive price reductions and they're seeing the actual values come down. There are also markets in right now that are appreciating. So far, Prescott is just holding kind of steady and our surrounding area as well.

Sellers are constantly asking me, is this the right time? Should I be on the market now? Should I wait? If you have any questions about that, it's always specific to your circumstances and what your needs and goals are, but we'd be happy to talk to you about that.

Generally speaking, if history is any guide, when you look at what the inventory levels were in May of 2024, compared to the peak of October last year, there were another couple of hundred homes that came on the market between those times. So if that trend and trajectory continues, we could be looking at maybe 1300/1400 homes on the market, by mid-to-late summer.

So, again, a lot of these questions are case-by-case specific. What are your needs and wants and desires that we're trying to accomplish for you? But we'd be happy to have those conversations

On the buy side of things, I read an interesting article this week that, according to Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, I can't remember the exact source, that if you're a buyer and you're contemplating shopping for a home, if you shop two or more lenders, on average, you'll save up to $1000 to $1200 per year.

If you're out there looking for a home, we'd always recommend that you get pre-qualified and shop with more than one lender out there. That adds up to a lot of money over the life of the the time that you're going to have that house.

Thanks for tuning in. Reach out and feel free to contact me directly or the team if you have any further questions and we'll talk to you next month.

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