Looking to learn more about North Scottsdale luxury homes? Since our inception as a real estate company, The Lifestyle Collection has been writing and distributing The Luxury Property Report for North Scottsdale, AZ. Each issue is designed to highlight luxury homes for sale in Scottsdale, as well as provide Scottsdale real estate market data. We also provide informative and interesting articles about real estate in general. As a company that believes in giving back to the community, each issue we highlight a charitable organization we support. When we sell a home that we list or help a buyer find a home to purchase, we ask the client to provide us with a favorite charity. We then donate a portion of our proceeds to that charity. Last year, based on homes we sold in Scottsdale, we donated more than $12,500 to various causes.
We send the report to our clients as well as a large segment of Scottsdale luxury homes via direct mail Our last report was sent to over 6,000 households and it is also available at select AJ’s Fine Food markets in the North Scottsdale area. Finally, we create a digital version that is promoted through Facebook and Google as well as other online platforms which help us reach another 4,000 to 5,000 readers. The online version of the report includes interactive links, embedded videos, and a broad variety of digital links to relevant sites and data.
If you have not received The Scottsdale Luxury Property Report and would like to receive future issues either digitally or as a paper copy in your mailbox, please visit our subscription link.
The report is high-quality and content-rich and helps us tell the story of our client’s listings to a broad audience in the local market, as well as around the globe. Members of the Institute For Luxury Home Marketing selected our report about Scottsdale luxury real estate to receive the Institute’s prestigious Marketing Award for Excellence, Innovation, and Execution.
We have assembled an archive page where you are invited to review previous issues of this report. Our most recent issue is our 2020 Scottsdale Luxury Property Report and provides the following content:
- Phoenix and Scottsdale Market Overviews
- Feeder markets sending buyers to search for North Scottsdale luxury homes
- Information on how to obtain a home valuation report
- Details on Sound Score, a tool that helps evaluate the noise level at a given property
- Insight into ShowingTime and the information it provides about pricing and showings
- Information on our relationship with Zillow and how it helps our seller’s gain exposure
- Details about our partnership with Mansion Global, The Wall Street Journal’s online real estate portal
- An informative step-by-step guide on what to do to help sell your home
- Our highly acclaimed area reports providing insight into luxury homes in North Scottsdale focusing on zip codes 85255, 85262 and 85266. Neighborhood reports covering many areas and the specific neighborhoods of:
- Case studies on two of the luxury homes we listed and sold in Scottsdale
- Case studies on two buyers whom we helped purchase North Scottsdale luxury homes
- Featured listings of several of the homes we have listed in North Scottsdale
- Testimonials from recent clients
- Charity Spotlight focused on two of the organizations we and our clients support
- An About Us section where you can learn more about The Lifestyle Collection team and our unique business background
You can read the entire report in digital format on our North Scottsdale Luxury Report Page, or if you prefer, you can read an excerpt from the report providing an overview of the Scottsdale luxury home market below:
Overview of Luxury Home Market in North Scottsdale and Phoenix Metro
Phoenix Metro Luxury Market
When we went to press with this issue in January 2020, general market news for the luxury home market is quite positive. The total number of homes in the entire Phoenix Metro Market that closed between 1/1/19 and 12/31/19 is slightly ahead of the number that sold during the same time period in 2018. In 2018, 2,092 homes closed escrow during the period. In 2019 during the same period, 2,245 closed; a 7.3 percent increase.
North Scottsdale Luxury Market
Looking specifically at the three zip codes that comprise North Scottsdale, luxury home sales were ahead slightly with 669 closing escrow in 2019, compared to 649 closings in 2018. This represents a 3.1 percent increase in units sold. Other statistics paint a stronger picture. The number of days on market decreased slightly from 215 days to 206 days, which is a modest improvement, likely due to lower inventory availability. However, there was a definite increase in dollars per square foot. In 2018, the median price per square foot was $345, and in 2019 it increased to $366. This is a 6.1 percent increase, which, for the average size home of 4,941 square feet, translates into $103,761 of additional potential upside.
As we head into the busier season, there is one area of concern, but reasons for optimism also. The point of concern relates to a slower summer sales season in 2019 from 2018. If we look at the number of homes that went under contract during the 2018 summer, June 21- Sept 23, 171 homes were sold. However, during the summer of 2019, only 132 homes went under contract during the same timeframe, a 22 percent decrease. Since we are not seeing a general decrease year over year, we are hoping that this was a seasonal anomaly that will adjust as the year continues.
There is also encouraging data when looking at luxury inventory. Inventory is measured by the number of available homes, but more importantly by days of inventory. Days of inventory means that at the current sales rate, the number of days it would take to deplete all available inventory. In the luxury space, this is always high compared to the general market. For the past year, the number of days of inventory remaining is at one of the lowest points it has been in years. As of December 31, 2019, there were 351 days of inventory, which is significantly below the running average of 605 days, and dramatically below the 684 days of inventory available in December 2016.
Inventory is down across the housing market in the entire Phoenix metro area. Looking at the market of all homes listed below $1,000,000, there were only 39 days of inventory and at $500,000 and below it drops even further to 33 days, which is the lowest point since at least 2011.
How Feeder Markets Impact Scottsdale Luxury Real Estate
Much of our market demand for luxury homes is generated by feeder markets in other parts of the country. We can determine with some accuracy where our feeder markets are by looking at search volumes on real estate websites. The feeder markets for the third quarter of 2019 show some interesting trends. Two states in particular are driving buyers to our area. Nearly every luxury buyer that has purchased a home through us this past year has come from California, with the clearly stated objective of escaping high taxes and crumbling infrastructure.
Because of the state of the market in California where the median home price is $549,900, California buyers can get a much better home in our state, where the median price is $295,000. During the third quarter of 2019, 27.7percent of market interest in Phoenix and Scottsdale came from areas in California.
Data on searches in Maricopa county confirm what we have been experiencing. This graph shows the top ten feeder markets in the country that are looking for homes in the Scottsdale area. The data is compiled from searches on the Realtor.com website during the third quarter of 2019.
This becomes more interesting when comparing it to the second quarter of 2019 where only 22 percent of the interest came from the state. This is a quarter over quarter increase of 26 percent. In the luxury space, we feel the number is significantly higher. We have discussed this with other agents serving the same market, and we are all in agreement that right now, we project 60 percent of the luxury buyers are coming from California.
The second state driving buyers to Arizona is Illinois. Anyone who has spent any time in our area during the winter months is used to seeing midwest license plates everywhere, but these are our snowbirds. We are seeing an increase of buyers who are moving here full time. Again, they are coming here to buy because of exorbitant real estate taxes. The effective real estate tax rate for Illinois is the second-highest in the country, eclipsed only slightly by New Jersey at 2.31 percent. As a point of comparison, our effective real estate tax in Arizona is only .72 percent, nearly 70 percent lower than Illinois. One client looking to purchase one of the homes we have listed in Scottsdale is leaving a home in the Chicago area. His home is on the market for $1,495,000 and the 2018 property taxes were $42,950. The home he is looking to purchase here is listed at a similar price, but the 2018 taxes were $5,859. There is a lot you can do with an extra $37,000 every year, not to mention the savings in not having to have your driveway plowed.
Scottsdale Luxury Homes Valuation Resources
If you are considering selling at this time, you are probably wondering, “what is my home worth in this market?” We have some tools to help answer this question. The easiest to use is our Scottsdale home valuation website. Simply go to our home valuation page at https://scottsdalehome.forsale/PriceMyHome – enter your home’s address, answer some simple questions, and you will instantly receive a report like the one below, providing you with a home valuation range. If you are interested in a more in-depth valuation, we have statistical tools and models available to provide a more comprehensive pricing picture. Just give us a call at 602-603-0708.
