The Anthem Arizona real estate market is my JAM and I can't wait to reflect on
2019, and share our projections for 2020!
Hey! Welcome back, I'm Lindsay, a proud Anthem resident and
your local REALTOR® with the Wise Move AZ Team at Realty ONE Group. If you want
to stay up to date on all things Anthem and real estate then you need to hit
that subscribe button. Pro Tip: You're also going to want to hit
the little bell icon, so that you're the first to know when our new videos are
posted every single Thursday. If you've visited our channel before, chances are
you know just how excited we get about life in Anthem. In fact, you might be
sick of hearing how much we love Anthem. Our career in real estate was sparked by
our love of this beautiful community we are so proud to call home, and it's
fueled every day by the strength of the market here. We've always wanted to share
market statistics with our YouTube audience, but we've struggled with the
best way to do it. We know that the numbers bring value, particularly if
you're planning to buy or sell in the not so distant future, but we also know
that rattling off numbers might bore you to death! But with the start of a new
year and a new decade we decided that we needed to reflect on what's going on in
the market, and share our thoughts for the upcoming year. Carolynn and I are
nerds when it comes to statistics and there are so many different directions
we could have taken this video. I promise that we put a lot of thought and energy
into sharing what we believe to be the most valuable 'at-a-glance' statistics
there is a lot of talk in the real estate community about the dreaded 'R'
word and Carolyn and I decided that it wouldn't be valuable if we just
contributed to the noise already out there.
We aren't economists and we don't pretend to be, but if our experience has
taught us anything it's that there are some Anthem residents
that will need to sell their homes and there will be newcomers excitedly
waiting to take their place. It's THAT awesome here! And even if there is a
recession, downturn, or correction, due to the very limited supply in Anthem we'll
be buffered. We decided that the true value of this video lied in being laser
focused on the Anthem market so without further adieu let's take a look at what
happened in the Anthem real estate market in 2019. As you may or may not
already know Anthem is a one-of-a-kind master-planned community located just
north of Phoenix. The community is made up of seven distinct areas all with
their own unique charm and features. These areas include Anthem Country Club,
Anthem Parkside East, Anthem Parkside West (including Circle Mountain Ranch),
Arroyo Grande, Paseo, The Landings and The Village. I think at this point we've done
video tours on almost all of those areas, so if that interests you I will link to
our Anthem playlist in the cards for this video. We decided that this video
would be way too long if we looked at the stats for each of the different
areas, even if it would make our nerdy hearts sing! So, in the interest of time
the stats that we'll be sharing in this video are for Anthem as a whole. If you
would like statistics for a particular area within Anthem let us know by way
of comment below or by sending us an email to Team@WiseMoveAZ.com and
we will happily get that information over to you. In talking with our past and
present clients, they told us that the most valuable stats would be: 1. The
number of homes sold, 2. The average sales price, 3. The average sales
price per square foot, 4. The average days on market, and 5. How close homes
sold to their listing price. So, let's take a look at the number of homes sold
on a monthly basis. As you can see in 2019 a total of 909
homes sold. This number follows a similar trend year after year in Anthem. We
start the year relatively slow, with sales growing through to May or July, and
then tapering off through the end of the year. The high volume of sales in the
summer months tends to correlate with families wanting to be settled before
the start of a new school year and with snowbirds wanting to make sure that they
have a home in place before the winter season. In 2020 we expect to see a
similar pattern, i.e. a peak in the number of homes sold in the summer months. That
being said it's really hard to say whether we'll see more homes sold in
2020 then we're sold in 2019. Anthem continues to have very low inventory and
if this doesn't increase.. well, as you can imagine, it's very hard for us to sell
homes that aren't for sale. Next, let's take a look at the average sales prices
in Anthem, month over month. This graph shows the low, average, and high sales
prices each month in 2019. We started the year with an average sales price of
roughly $346,000 and finished with an average of
roughly $363,000. That's an increase of roughly
5% from the start of the year to the end of the year, and as you can
see from the graph prices are tracking upwards. As homeowners in Anthem we are
excited at the thought of our homes appreciating year-over-year,
however, as REALTORS® we know that prices can only grow so much before it starts
to raise other concerns in the market. We feel strongly that prices will continue
to rise modestly as a whole through 2020. This is evidence of the Phoenix metro
area continuing to see more and more people moving into the area. Average
sales price only says so much and it can't really account for the difference
between a mansion and a starter home. As REALTORS® we often like to look at the
average sales price per square foot, when looking at the state of the market. This
can create a more level comparison between properties, but it's by no means
a perfect comparison. That being said, as you can see on this graph, the average
price per square foot also tracked up throughout 2019. The year started with an
average of a $152.17 per square
foot and ended with an average of $163.53
per square foot. That's a difference of more than $10
per square foot. Much like the average sales price, we expect sales price per
square foot to continue a steady increase throughout 2020. Another
interesting statistic is average cumulative days on market. This gives an
indication of how long a home sat on the market before closing. It's important to
note that this statistic is also imperfect. If a home is marked as 'Pending'
when it goes under contract, it stops accumulating days on the market,
however, if a property is marked 'UCB' (under contract accepting backups) or
CCBS (contract contingent on buyer's sale), it continues to accrue days on the
market until the day of closing. This figure can still give us a good sense of
how long homes are sitting on the market here in beautiful Anthem, Arizona.
As you can see, days on market fluctuated in the first half of the year with a dip
in May, followed by a steady decline of days on market in August, through to the
end of the year. What does this mean? It means that, on average, homes were selling
faster when they hit the market at the end of the year then at the start of the
year. This might seem counter intuitive. Prices were higher and the homes were
selling faster? Doesn't that go against basic economic principles?! The short
answer is NO! The piece that's missing in this picture is that inventory was
uncharacteristically low in Anthem this year. The low supply may have driven the
prices up and forced people to make quicker decisions when they found the
right house. Lastly, people are always curious about how close homes sell to
their list price. In 2019, in Anthem, homes sold for an average of 99% of
their list price. Some buyers may find this disheartening because they feel
like there's little room to negotiate on the price of the home, and in
some cases that may be true. But, this stat doesn't account for the fact that
some houses are priced way too high when they first hit the market, and they don't
sell until their price is reduced to within 1% of the market value.
You're probably sick of hearing me say this, but this just speaks to the
importance of making sure that you're working with an agent who has local
expertise and knows the value of the homes in that area. This is important for
both buyers and sellers. Long story short, it was a good time to be a seller in
Anthem in 2019 and we suspect the same will be true for at least the first half
of 2020. Buyers this doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad time for you to buy,
it just means that you need to be diligent and informed. You'll need to be
ready to move quickly when the right home hits the market, but you'll also
need to make sure that you're working with a REALTOR® with local expertise, who
can ensure that you're not overpaying for the home. So, there you have it! What
do you think? Will 2020 be the year that you make a move to Anthem? Or if you're
already living here, are you thinking about selling? I can think of a few
things I could do with an extra 5% of my home's value. Overall, it's a very
exciting time to be living and working in the community that we love so much. If
you have questions about how these numbers impact you, please let us know.
You'll find our contact information in the description box below. If all of this
has you thinking, 'yeah, I could consider a move to Anthem', then you'll definitely
want to download a copy of our guide to HOA fees throughout Anthem, and you'll find a
link to that in the description box below, as well! Lastly, if you enjoyed this
video let me know by hitting that like button subscribing to our Channel and
sharing this video with your friends. See YOU next Thursday!