Completely Anecdotal Evidence the Real Estate Market is Changing
I’m a big fan of statistics and charts. 20+ years in the semiconductor manufacturing industry will do that to a guy. Heck, I even took a second semester of statistics in college as an elective, because I liked it.
That doesn’t stop me though from just “getting a feeling” about something.
Over the past couple weeks, just such a feeling has been brewing about the real estate market. It started with a surge in home search registrations both here and on ThompsonsRealty.com. At the same time, we started noticing more calls to the office, and more email traffic.
All this at a time of year that is typically one of the slowest. Kind of makes me think maybe this is an indicator of the real estate market picking up a little steam.
Sending a message out on Twitter is a great way to see what others think, so off this one went:
Quickly these responses came back (click each graphic for larger image):
From Benjamin Day, Colorado Springs, CO: | From Brandon Marchand, Spokane, WA: |
From Eric Stegemann, St. Louis, MO: | From Jonathan Osman, Charlotte, NC: |
From Kathleen Buckley, Hopkinton, MA: | From Larry Holtz, Denver, CO: |
Before some statistics super stud points out this isn’t a valid sample size, nor is anything presented here even remotely close to being statistically significant, let me just say that’s exactly the point.
This isn’t a technical analysis of the Phoenix real estate market (nor any other market for that matter). I’m not even considering things like inventory levels, sales, prices or any of a dozen factors that go into a full-fledged market condition analysis.
But when multiple agents all across the county notice an uptick in their specific markets, it’s hard not to stop and say, “Hmmmm…”. Maybe this is just an aberration. Maybe it means absolutely nothing. But maybe, just maybe, it means there really are more buyers entering the market, more sellers setting realistic prices, and there is increasing confidence in the market all the way around.
Maybe.