Is there a Wave of Foreclosures Coming?
This is one of the most popular questions I get asked of late. With the Eviction Moratorium soon to be lifted, some fear there will be a significant rise in both evictions and foreclosures.
On a national level, there are definitely some areas that are more likely to see this impact the local real estate market, but here in Metro Phoenix, I do not foresee a noticeable change. Personally, I’ve yet to come across someone who completed a mortgage forbearance and the property managers I routinely speak with have some “one-off” scenarios where tenants haven’t been paying, but not a huge number.
Why is this? Well… think about how our local economy never really shut down like some other cities and states did. People kept working here and our economy is still growing. We have a huge influx of new business and residents from elsewhere so jobs continue to grow.
Due to my past work with REO / Foreclosure properties during the Housing Crisis of 2008 – 2012, I remain connected with a number of Asset Managers and other contacts within that field. The number of BPO (Broker Price Opinion) requests have not shot up and nobody has indicated any anticipation of a big rise in foreclosures.
Also, our inventory on the market is so slim with such pent up demand, that any uptick would be absorbed very quickly and therefore not really be felt whatsoever.
This is good news overall for our market, although I know many buyers would love to see more homes hit the market and priced decline. I think both of those are not going to occur in the short-term. As I am writing this, there are only 2,887 Active Homes (any price any size) here in Maricopa County.
