Today’s AZ Republic posted the previous week’s sales for the Phoenix area, and I wondered how close the Zillow.com’s estimated values were to the actual sale number.

The 85233 (Gilbert, AZ) was chosen, as it has almost no new construction (New construction does not show up on Zillow.)  There were 14 single family homes that sold.  The breakdown was as follows:

         7 properties sold within $1,000 of Zillow Estimate (50%)

         2 properties sold for higher than Zillow Estimate (14%)

         5 properties sold for lower than Zillow Estimate (36%)

The properties that sold for more than estimate were 3K and 9K over.

The properties that sold for less were 21K, 3K, 70K, 80K and 13K over.

Conclusion: At least in the 85233 Zip Code, the Zillow estimate is either right at or on the high side of market value.

 

That raised the question of how LISTING prices compared to the Zillow value.  Since the list prices for these particular properties weren’t available, comparable values on the same street were used.  (With so many properties on the market, only three properties did not have additional homes for sale on the same street.)

When these homes were compared with their Zillow value, 100% were listed at over their estimate.  The amounts over were as follows:

     11K, 10K, 6K, 7K, 36K, 36K, 26K, 29K, 3K, 60K, 27K (The listing for the last one said, “20K under appraisal!”)  Average over = 23K

Conclusion:  At least in the 85233 zip code, listing prices are too high to tempt buyers.  (Year over year sales in this zip are down 45%)  Until sellers come to grips with the current market, buyers are going to stay on the sidelines.

Link:  Zillow.com