Another year, another record. Home sales just went through the roof in 2003.

This isn’t just an isolated instance for Scottsdale. Phoenix home sales were up 8.4% for the year. Mesa home sales rose 14.8%. Chandler sales were 22% higher than 2002. Incredible. For the annual statistics, go to our Annual Trends section.

Prices also went on a tear in December with the median and average home price in Scottsdale reaching new highs. The median home price in Scottsdale rose 26%, year-over-year. That’s a lot of high-end sales. The average home price in Scottsdale went over $500,000 for the first time. The median price almost hit $400,000, coming in at $397,000. For the full statistics, see our tables on the next page.

As one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country, we expect the real estate market to continue strong for the foreseeable future.

My advice? For buyers, buy. I can’t get any simpler than that. If you want to increase your wealth, buy real estate. Look, if you buy a home for $300,000, putting down 20%—$60,000, and prices appreciate just at the what the National Association of Realtors is forecasting for next year, 4.6%, you’re talking about a 23% return on your money, and that’s before you take into account the deduction for your interest. What’s that saying? Beg, borrow or steal to buy real estate.

For sellers, pricing, as always, is the key. If you price your property in-line with the market and the property’s condition, you’ll sell your home faster and for more money. Overprice it and you will have to wait for the market to catch up. Also, at this time of year there will be fewer buyers around, be flexible with what offers you do receive.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 7th, 2004 at 2:48 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.