If you are thinking about buying a home in Anthem and want to know when the best time to make your move is, this blog is for you! If you have been following our “Frequently Asked Questions about Anthem” blog (and video) series, welcome back, if you are new to it, welcome, we hope you love reading as much as we love answering the questions we get from our open house visitors and from hanging out in this fabulous community in which we live and work.
Today’s question is: “What is the best time to buy a home in Anthem?”
If you have not read our blog or seen our video on the best time to sell your home in Anthem, it may be helpful to go back and have a look at one of them (click here). The information there is as relevant to selling as it is to buying in Anthem.
The answer to this question depends on a lot of different factors. But two of the most important ones are housing prices and inventory.
Prices: Depending on the source and the method of calculation you use, house prices in Anthem are up between 5% and 7% over the past 12 months and all indications are that they will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. To say prices are up 7% over the year does not mean they rose at an equal fraction of 7% each month for 12 months, it is a matter of averages. This means the key to buying at the best time is knowing the trends on a micro/monthly level: When are the house prices in Anthem lower and when are they higher? What is the ebb and flow of the Anthem market throughout the year?
We have done the research on home sales and found that the average price paid for homes in Anthem were lowest in February and September. It is important to know that the average home sale takes about 30 to 45 days to close which means that contracts that close in February are negotiated in December and January and contracts that close in September are negotiated in July and August.
Many REALTORS® will tell you that in Arizona the summers are slow and as a result summer is the best time to buy. Alas, they are at best partially right. The numbers show that the right time to negotiate your screaming deal is July/August or November/December. Which means you close in September or February for the best prices.
Inventory: Historically Anthem’s inventory of homes for sale has followed the State averages closely. Inventory begins its increase in mid-to late January and continues to climb through to March/April. It then tapers off for the remainder of the year, jumping up again in January the next year. In 2017 the inventory of homes available for sale in Anthem fell below normal averages and did not recover as much in January 2018 as was normal in previous years. This means that we started 2018 with lower than average inventory of homes.
With lower inventory levels in the later months of the year it is not surprising that it is common for January and February to be the months with the fewest home sale closings. What is interesting is that lower inventory and slower sales do not seem to translate into higher prices, in fact the reverse is true as we have seen above and in our ‘Best Time to Sell’ blog.
Having said all of this, Anthem’s markets are brisk and active throughout the year and right now, prices are continuing to increase. Despite the lower inventory in 2018, the number of closed sales between January and May of 2018 was lower by only 1% as compared to the same period in 2017. In addition, prices over the same period were up by 7.8%
So, there you have it, if there is a best time to buy in Anthem it is February and September, but remember, your negotiations must be underway by no later than January and August respectively.
In our opinion it is always a good time to buy in Anthem, you need to know and trust your REALTOR® to negotiate well on your behalf. With a retired attorney who spent an entire career negotiating contracts on the Wise Move AZ Team we know that we are the team you need to negotiate the best price for you all year round!
So that’s it for today’s post, if you want to stay up to date on all things Anthem, make sure you like our Facebook Page at ‘Wise Move AZ’ or subscribe to our Wise Move AZ channel on YouTube.
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Remember, if you or anyone you know is looking to buy or sell their home, please give us a call! It’s always the right time to make a wise move with the Wise Move AZ Team.
