The number of active residential listings for sale in  ARMLS (area MLS or listing service),  is about 17348 total this morning –  down over 1000 dwellings over the last month.

The home-buying experience is vastly different than this time last year, when multiple offer scenarios were just beginning to occur  on the nicest properties.  And just two years ago, a buyer searching in any given area for a 4 bedroom home with a pool, and a budget up to $400,000 (for instance), would have a good number of  choices, with several lovely properties from which to choose.  And the buyer’s edge at that time (too much supply versus too little demand), meant that  negotiating a good chunk off asking price was a given.

It’s a new dawn:  Inventory is decreasing, foreclosures are decreasing, buyers that have been waiting on the sidelines for indications of market bottom have jumped off the fence and are competing with each other for a smaller pool of  properties.

In most areas and many price ranges, supply/demand balance is turned on it’s head.   Homes in great condition and priced according to current values  are often selling very quickly with several offers, in some cases driving the price higher than list price.

Canadian buyers have been taking advantage of the bargains in sunny AZ for a few years, and in Phoenix real estate rises with Canadian buyers, one Canadian investor says that real estate here is about 20% higher than when he bought in 2010, and that “there’s been an extreme turn.”

Where will we go from here?  I’m thinking up.