As fall signals the end of the peak selling season, home sales across the U.S. continue to surge with the largest year-over-year gain since November 2016, according to the September RE/MAX National Housing Report. But what does that mean for Phoenix buyers? 

Phoenix residents are experiencing an increase in home sales. Here is a quick snapshot of local housing data:

• Closed transactions : 7,800, up year over year by 14.1%

• Median Sales Price : $280,000, up year over year by 7.7%

• Days on Market : 40, down year over year by 4 days

• Months Supply of Inventory : 1.8 down year over year by 33.3%

While signaling the end of 2019’s peak selling season, September home sales rose nationally 8.1% year-over-year – the largest year-over-year increase since November 2016. Home purchases increased in 47 of the report’s 54 markets, forcing already tight inventory totals to drop 6.1% year-over-year for the biggest decline in over a year.

The year-over-year increase in September 2019 sales was the largest September increase since 2013. This was accompanied by an August-to-September decline of 17.0%, which – while larger than average – was significantly less than the month-to-month drop of 24.4% in September 2018, when sales sharply declined amid an uncertain interest rate environment.

September 2019 marked the third consecutive month of year-over-year inventory decline. That reversed the strongest 9-month-stretch of year-over-year inventory growth – from October 2018 to June 2019 – in report history. Meanwhile, the August-to-September seasonal inventory decline of 1.5% was less than the August-to-September 5-year average drop of 2.3%.

“It was encouraging to see the improvement in September home sales, especially given how tough last September’s results were,” said RE/MAX Holdings CEO Adam Contos. “The market still poses some challenges for buyers – framed by rising prices and shrinking inventory – but we’re moving into the fourth quarter on much better footing than we had a year ago. As we begin to lap the end of last year and its persistent sales declines, the housing market’s momentum increases the chances of seeing more months of strong year-over-year gains in sales.”

September’s Median Sales Price of $254,500 was a year-over-year increase of 4.5%, which is in line with the year-over-year average gain of 4.9% for 2019’s first nine months.