Phoenix tops Zillow list

Phoenix topped real-estate portal and online valuation service Zillow's list of metro areas expected to achieve growth in home values in 2013 in a report issued Tuesday.

According to Zillow, the Phoenix area is expected to experience a 6.5 percent increase in median home price in 2013 compared with the current year.

The first runner-up was Miami-Fort Lauderdale with an expected median-price increase of 5.6 percent, followed by Tampa with an expected 2.5 percent increase.

According to Zillow, the predictions are based on data from past home-value trends and current market conditions, including leading indicators such as home sales, monthly housing-inventory supply and jobless rate.

An Arizona State University report issued Thursday said the Phoenix area's median single-family-home price was up more than 20 percent in March compared with a year earlier.

The number of foreclosures completed in March was down a whopping 60 percent from March 2011, according to ASU real-estate analyst Mike Orr, who wrote the report.

Orr said new-home sales were up 35 percent in the Phoenix area for the same time period.

Of the 30 major metropolitan areas included in the Zillow forecast, 16 markets were expected to see median home-price increases, while 14 markets were expected to see price declines in 2013.

At the bottom of the list was Atlanta with an expected decrease of 4.1 percent, followed by Chicago with an expected 3.8 percent decrease.

by J. Craig Anderson azcentral.com Apr 27, 2012




Phoenix tops Zillow list

Home prices in Phoenix area up 20 percent in past 12 months

Home prices are surging in metro Phoenix, climbing 8 percent in March alone and 20 percent in the past 12 months.

The median price of a house in the region climbed to $134,900, according to a new report from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

The trend is projected to continue throughout the year, although at a slower pace.

Mike Orr, director of the Center for Real Estate Theory at ASU, doesn't expect home prices to continue to climb as fast as they did in March over the next few months. But he projects metro Phoenix's housing appreciation for 2012 to reach 25 percent by September.

Orr credits the turnaround to steep drops in foreclosures and in the number of homes for sale, coupled with an increase in sales.

Fewer foreclosures means fewer inexpensive homes for buyers. The number of homes taken back by lenders in metro Phoenix is down 60 percent from March 2011.

Housing inventory has dropped steadily during the past year because of a record number of investors snapping up properties out of foreclosure.

Home sales are up 35 percent from a year ago as more regular buyers have joined investors in the mix.

"Prices have begun to rise at a fast pace, and bargains are no longer plentiful," Orr said. "Most homes that are priced well are attracting multiple offers within a couple of days, and many are exceeding the asking price."

March's price increase was the sixth in a row for Phoenix's housing market. Most real-estate analysts say the streak of rising home prices, along with slower foreclosures, is proof a housing recovery is under way.

A growing number of national real-estate analysts say metro Phoenix is leading the U.S.' housing market's recovery.

Metro Phoenix's median home price is still at least $130,000 lower than it was during the boom but almost $30,000 higher than it was in August 2011.

Foreclosures are down, and so are the sales of lender-owned homes. Since March 2012, the number of foreclosures resold by lenders has plummeted 61 percent. At the same time, regular sales, new-home sales, investor purchases and short sales have climbed. All those types of transactions have higher median prices.

The number of houses on the market across the Phoenix area is down 64 percent from March 2011.

Frustrated real-estate agents have buyers ready to sign contracts but can't find houses for them.

Don Paulsen of Peoria-based West USA Realty said the number of homes on the market is even lower when the number of homes that already have contracts written on them is subtracted.

An example would be a short sale in which the owner accepted an offer and the agent is showing the status as AWC -- active with contingencies -- until they get lender approval, he said.

"The reality is most agents will not show those homes because they know there is already an accepted contract on them," Paulsen said.

Orr also expects foreclosures to continue to fall, which means even fewer inexpensive homes will be for sale.

"The very low number of inexpensive homes available for resale means more buyers are considering purchasing new homes as an option," Orr said. "This signals the start of a distinct upward trend in new-home sales."

Pinal County home prices are up 21.3 percent in price per square foot from March 2011 to March 2012, with Maricopa County prices per square foot up 12.9 percent.

The areas showing the greatest increases are those that suffered the most price damage from the foreclosure wave from 2007 to 2011, Orr said. Examples include El Mirage, up 20 percent in average price per square foot; Maricopa, up 20 percent; San Tan Valley, up 31 percent; Tolleson, up 20 percent; Glendale, up 16 percent; Phoenix, up 17 percent; and Anthem, up 17 percent.

In contrast, some areas least affected by foreclosures are still showing price decreases. Examples are Paradise Valley, down 2 percent; Tempe and Fountain Hills, down 3 percent; Sun City West, down 12 percent; and Wickenburg, down 18 percent.

Owner-occupied home sales, which have been eclipsed by foreclosures and short sales in recent years, also increased 47 percent from March 2011 to March 2012.

Prices are still below March 2011, but Orr said the trend has reversed recently, with the price per square foot rising 8.1 percent from February to March. The median normal resale price is now $166,650, still 4.8 percent below the $175,000 in March 2011.

New-home sales are concentrated in the southeast Valley, with Gilbert and Chandler recording the most sales in March, Orr reported.

by Catherine Reagor - Apr. 26, 2012 11:36 PM The Republic | azcentral.com




Home prices in Phoenix area up 20 percent in past 12 months

Illinois home prices halt 20-month price descent | HousingWire

Median home prices in Illinois snapped a 20-month streak of price declines in March, a turnaround coinciding with the start of the spring selling season.

The statewide median price in March came in at $130,000, even with March 2011, according to the Illinois Association of Realtors. It’s the first time the state’s median price hasn’t decreased since June 2010.

“There’s no doubt that these are strong numbers to open the spring selling season,” said IAR President Loretta Alonzo. “To see such good sales numbers, coupled with a measure of price stability is encouraging news no matter what side of a real estate transaction you happen to be on.”

Illinois home sales posted the best March sales numbers since 2007. Home sales (including single-family homes and condominiums) in the month totaled 9,575, expanding 21.1% from 7,904 home sales a year earlier.

In the nine-county Chicago Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area, 6,590 homes were sold in March, up 23.8% from March 2011 sales of 5,323 homes. The median price in March was $151,850 in the Chicago PMSA, down 3.9% compared to a year earlier when it was $158,000.

“Sales volumes are up, time-on-the-market levels are down significantly from a year ago and prices appear to be stabilizing in Illinois although continuing to fall in Chicago,” said Geoffrey Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois.

“Further, in the last month there was a more even spread of sales prices compared to previous months where homes sold for less than $200,000 dominated the market,” Hewings added.

by Justin T Hilley Housingwire Apr 20, 2012


Illinois home prices halt 20-month price descent | HousingWire

Prices Surge for Miami Homes, Condos

For the fourth consecutive month, Miami home prices posted strong gains in March with the median sales price of condominiums surging 46% compared to a year earlier, according to the latest figures from the Miami Association of Realtors.

The median condo price reached $141,700 in March while the median sales price of single family homes rose 13% to $180,000.
‘The fact that Miami home prices have significantly increased for four consecutive months indicates prices have bottomed and have caught up with sales levels,’ said Martha Pomares, 2012 chairman of the board of the Miami Association of Realtors.

‘We expect this trend to continue, as Miami increasingly attracts international buyers and investors, second and vacation home buyers, and migrating US residents,’ she added.

Statewide median sales prices in March increased 20.8% to $105,000 for condominiums and 10.3% to $139,000 for single family homes, according to the Florida Realtors Industry Data and Analysis department. The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $163,800 in March, a 2.5% increase from March 2011.

In March, the average sales price for single family homes in Miami-Dade County increased 21.8% from $279,608 in 2011 to $340,634 in 2012. The average sales prices for condominiums jumped 23% from $212,616 to $261,523.

Sales of existing homes decreased but remain at historically high levels. The sales of existing single family homes in Miami-Dade decreased 12% in March, from 1,039 to 919, compared to record sales levels March 2011. Sales of condominiums were down 10.1% from 1,542 to 1,387, compared to March 2011.

Statewide sales of existing single family homes totalled 18,370 in March 2012, down 5.7% compared to a year ago. Statewide condominium sales totalled 10,012, down 12% from those sold in March 2011.

Nationally, sales of existing single family homes, town homes, condominiums, and co-ops decreased 2.6% from February but were 5.2% higher than they were in March 2011, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).


‘The Miami residential real estate market saw record demand that resulted in an all-time record for home sales. This consistent demand coupled with fewer distressed properties being transacted has logically resulted in notable price appreciation unlike anywhere else in the US,’ said Miami Association of Realtors residential president Patricia Delinois.

From March 2011, the inventory of residential listings in Miami-Dade County has decreased 34% from 18,883 to 12,379 in March 2012. Compared to the previous month, the total inventory of homes dropped 5.1%. Total housing inventory nationally declined 1.3% at the end of March but is 21.8% below a year ago.

Strong demand for bank owned (REO) properties and improved processing of short sales has resulted in rapid absorption of distressed listings and contributed to price appreciation. In March, 49% of all closed residential sales in Miami-Dade County were distressed, including REOs and short sales, compared to 52% in March 2011 and 54% the previous month. Contrary to a year ago, there are now more short sales being transacted than REOs.

In Miami-Dade County, 65% of total closed sales in March were all cash sales, compared to 66% a year earlier. Cash sales accounted for 47% of single family sales and 79% of condominium closings. Nearly 90% of international buyers in Florida purchase properties all cash.

Nationally, all cash sales were 32% of transactions in March, reflecting the stronger presence of international buyers in the Miami real estate market.

by Propertywire Apr 23, 2012



Prices Surge for Miami Homes, Condos

Phoenix-area home prices headed upward

Home prices are climbing in metro Phoenix faster than they have since the housing boom.

Some parts of the region experienced home-value increases of 5 to 10 percent a month this year because of a shortage of homes for sale that is sparking bidding wars between investors and regular buyers armed with pre-approvals for mortgages.

Valley home values database


This emerging recovery of home prices in the Phoenix area started late last year and has been building each month.

Home values still have a long way to go to recover to pre-boom levels. Metro Phoenix's median existing-home price is currently $124,500, about $20,000 below the area's median in 2002 and well below the $267,000 from the height of the boom in summer 2006.

But many housing-market analysts see this as the beginning of a long-awaited recovery for the area's battered housing market. The uptick in prices is enticing more buyers who have been waiting for the market's bottom to purchase a home and now have likely missed it.

"Phoenix-area home prices are climbing so quickly in some areas now, due to such low inventory, it's hard to keep up," said Tom Ruff, real-estate analyst with online foreclosure service AZ Bidder and a founder of the Information Market, which supplies data for The Republic's Valley Home Values report.

He said the prices on sales closing now, which were started 90 days ago, are outdated. So to find comparable sales, buyers and real-estate agents need to look at sales negotiated last week.

Investors have driven the market, usually paying cash for low-priced homes and beating out other bidders. About 60 percent of homes sold in metro Phoenix this year have gone to cash buyers.

Now, both investors and regular buyers trying to purchase before prices climb higher are giving Phoenix's housing recovery momentum.

However, not all parts of the region are showing the same positive signs. Areas with lower-priced homes are drawing the most buyers, while the Valley's high-end housing market is still in a slump.

Communities in metro Phoenix with better schools, shopping and freeway access are also beating out other neighborhoods -- not far away -- for home-price increases.

"Metro Phoenix has always been a pocket market for home sales," said Jim Sexton of Realty One Group. "Chandler home prices may be steadily rising now, while a neighborhood in Mesa right next to its border are seeing declines."

Micro-markets

Many of the metro Phoenix neighborhoods and communities seeing the most rapid increases in prices now experienced the biggest drop in values.

Some communities on the edge of the region, including Goodyear in the west and Queen Creek in the southeast, drew more speculators and homebuilding during the boom. Many of the buyers had subprime loans that resulted in the Valley's first wave of foreclosures.

Home prices in these new communities plummeted much lower than the region's median but are now rising the fastest.

For example, in Goodyear, the median home price has climbed 14 percent in the past year.

But while the increases are large, the prices are low: The growth translates to a median home price of $92,000 in the area, compared with $81,000 in 2010.

Some neighborhoods with bigger homes in the southeast Valley cities of Chandler and Gilbert are posting significant price increases, even though the areas didn't see huge previous declines. Chandler's median home price has climbed to $186,000 from $170,000 last year.

Bidding wars

Martin Dace has been shopping for a house in the southeast Valley for nine months. He has been outbid by both investors and regular buyers on foreclosures and short sales.

Now he's considering buying a new home in Gilbert, near his job. Though the new home will cost $25,000 more than a short-sale house of the same size, he won't have to worry about being outbid.

"I am ready to buy and move in," he said. "I am tired of losing out on bidding wars. And new homes' prices are bound to go up, too, at some point."

Housing analysts say higher-paying jobs and better schools in the East Valley draw buyers willing to pay more to live there.

Homes priced below $400,000 in established neighborhoods are selling the fastest, real-estate agents say.

Real-estate agent Bobby Lieb of HomeSmart said a home listed for $165,000 in the upscale Encanto neighborhood in central Phoenix drew 26 offers and sold for almost $225,000.

There are similar bidding-war stories across the Valley in neighborhoods where homes are priced below $400,000, even in high-end communities.

Diane Watson of Russ Lyon Realty said a Carefree home priced at $300,000 through a short sale received three offers on the first day.

"The lender actually accepted the offer right away, but I had agents calling me for weeks with clients who wanted to put in backup offers," she said. "So many buyers are losing out on bidding wars, they are getting desperate."

Struggles remain

The high-end housing market was the last to crash and is now the slowest to recover. Homes priced above $1 million in Paradise Valley and parts of north Scottsdale are generally slow to sell.

Mike Orr, a real-estate analyst with Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business, said supply is a problem for the million-dollar-plus market.

He said so many homes are for sale with price tags and mortgages above $1 million, that this portion of the market could take a few years to post increases.

The median price of a home in exclusive Paradise Valley has fallen to $870,000 from $1 million a year ago.

Though, last week, a Paradise Valley home did sell for $10.5 million in cash, the highest price paid for a metro Phoenix home since the boom.

Joan Levinson of Realty One Group said that there are buyers looking for great deals in the Valley's high-end housing market but that some sellers are still reluctant to accept offers in the hope prices will climb.

Looking ahead

If the current trends continue, with fewer foreclosure homes for sale, home prices will also continue to rise, real-estate analysts say.

Foreclosures did climb slightly in February, but not enough to alarm housing-market watchers.

The number of metro Phoenix homes taken back by lenders during February is still less than half the number of foreclosures recorded during almost every month in 2009.

Also, the number of homeowners behind on their mortgages in Arizona continues to fall. So, many market watchers don't expect another big jump in foreclosures.

Post-foreclosure sales are another matter -- banks decide when to put those homes back on the market. If they were to flood the market with a large supply of vacant homes, they could drive prices down again, as a similar move did in 2008-09.

Longer term, experts are gauging a housing recovery not by bank-owned homes but by homes for sale by owner-occupants.

Orr said the recovery will feel much more real when homeowners who bought before the boom feel optimistic enough to put their homes on the market.

"Many homeowners and buyers are still several months behind the reality of what's going on in metro Phoenix's housing market," said Orr, who also publishes the Cromford Report, an online daily real-estate analysis. "The housing market started recovering last year and hasn't stopped."

by Catherine Reagor - Mar. 31, 2012 11:32 PM The Republic | azcentral.com






Phoenix-area home prices headed upward

Housing availability plummets 42% as prices rebound - Local News - Phoenix, AZ - msnbc.com

A dramatic housing turnaround is taking hold, with the glut of homes for sale in the Valley plummeting 42 percent in the last year.

This has put housing in short supply and helped to boost homes prices by nearly 16 percent since values bottomed out in September 2011, according to an Arizona State University report.

The findings are probably a shock to Valley residents used to gloomy housing news, said Mike Orr, director of the Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice at the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU.

“They think we have a glut but we have a shortage, and it’s almost as stressful as having a glut as to have a shortage,” Orr said.

Many buyers have become dispirited after making multiple offers and not getting a home. That problem will likely get worse in the next few months because spring is the most active time for home buying, Orr said.

The shortage is made worse because new home construction had fallen so dramatically.

Builders completed about 4,000 homes a month at the peak of the housing boom, but that’s fallen to about 400 a month now. Orr expects builders can double production but he said they face limits because so many construction workers left the state when the housing market crashed.

“I can’t see them building enough to change a shortage into an adequate supply, at least not in the short term,” he said.

The February housing report includes Maricopa and Pinal counties. Its findings include:

• Median sale prices rose 8.3 percent from February, from $115,000 to $124,500. That includes new homes.

• The average price per square foot rose 4.1 percent, from $81.07 to $84.36.

• Monthly foreclosures are up from February but down 9 percent from February 2011.

• Foreclosure completions were down 52 percent in the last year.

• Bank-owned sales dropped 40 percent.

Low-end and moderately priced homes are in the highest demand, Orr said.
Housing wasn’t hurt by gas prices of nearly $4 a gallon, Orr said. But it has affected where people want to buy and made central locations more desirable.

Orr said the improving housing news doesn’t indicate the market is healthy or normal yet. Prices need to rise about 33 percent based on trends of long-term average pricing, Orr said. That would place values at $120 per square foot. Prices had fallen to $78 but are now at $90.

“I don’t know when we’ll get back to normal,” Orr said. “Arizona, housing prices in particular, seems to be a very volatile market.”

by East Valley Tribune msnbc.com Mar 28, 2012


Housing availability plummets 42% as prices rebound - Local News - Phoenix, AZ - msnbc.com

The one number to watch for a housing recovery

If you're waiting for home prices to go up, then you're missing signs the troubled housing market has finally turned around.

 

FORTUNE – Over the past few months, many economists have concluded that that the U.S. housing market has reached a turning point and is healing. This may sound hard to believe, since home prices have continued their downward trend. In 2011, prices fell by 4% following nearly a 30% decline since the property bubble paeked in June 2006. They ended the year at a 10-year low.

Indeed, prices aren't likely going to rise for a while. But this might not necessarily mean the housing market isn't on the mend. Perhaps we're looking at the recovery all wrong, says Paul Dales at Capital Economics. In a report to clients recently, the economist said higher prices won't be the sign that tells us there's a realrecovery under way. Rather, the recent pick-up in sales is what we should pay attention to.

After all, prices tend to be a lagging indicator. It could take six months for any improvements to show in the market, if not longer.

"Even if the asking price is at the right level when the home is first listed, it may still take a few months to find a buyer and another month or so before the contract is closed," Dales wrote to clients last week. "The selling price that is registered at the end of this process therefore relates to the market conditions somewhat earlier."

Sales have risen recently, reaching a few milestones.

In 2011, existing home sales climbed to 4.26 million – higher than the 4.19 million sales in 2010. Needless to say, this is far below the market's peak of 7.1 million sales amid the housing boom in 2005. But it's worth noting that for the past two years, sales have crept up from the market's low of 4.1 million sales when the market collapsed in 2008. In particular, in the past six months, total homes sales have risen by 13% as borrowing costs for home mortgages continue to fall to record lows and investors making up the bulk of sales find opportunities in heavily discounted properties after foreclosures and short sales.

And a series of home sales data released later this week is expected to show that home purchases probably climbed in February to their highest level in nearly two years, according to the forecasts in a Bloomberg survey. Sales of new and previously-owned properties combined are expected to rise to an annual rate of 4.93 million – the strongest since May 2010, and up from 4.89 million in January.

The evidence reminds us that perhaps we should change our expectations of what a housing recovery might look like, particularly following a crisis marked by record foreclosures and a financial crisis that sent the economy into one of the deepest recessions. The recovery we have been anticipating is defined more on the rate at which the glut of vacant properties comes off the market as opposed to any steady rise in prices, which some think won't happen for another few years.

The inventory of unsold homes has dwindled, falling in January to 6.1 month's worth of supply – its lowest level since March 2005. A supply of six months is generally considered ideal for a healthy housing market, but there continue to be several headwinds at play that could weigh down prices.

The most immediate threat is the $25 billion settlement that federal and state officials recently reached with five banks to end investigations into abusive foreclosures practices. The agreement, which had stalled pending foreclosures nationwide for more than a year, will probably add more properties into the market. Dales at Capital Economics estimates additional 3 million homeowners might succumb to foreclosure over the next few years.

And then there's the longer-term threat to prices, which some experts say could arise when the Federal Reserve raises interest rates later. The inevitable move could potentially make the cost of home purchases more expensive relative to stagnant incomes.

So if anyone is looking at prices for signs of a recovery, it's likely that they'll miss it.

By Nin-Hai Tseng CNNMoney Mar 20, 2012

The one number to watch for a housing recovery

Home prices rise for first time in 18 months: RE/MAX | HousingWire

For the first time in 18 months, home prices increased year-over-year in February, a turnaround that RE/MAX said signifies a "very active selling season."

A RE/MAX housing survey released Wednesday shows national home prices in February rose 1.1% from a year earlier and 1.4% from January to $171,881.

Of the 53 metro areas included in the survey, 24 experienced price increases from February 2011, including: Miami (20.5%), Orlando, Fla. (15.8%), Phoenix (12.5%), Tampa, Fla. (11.1%), St. Louis (9.8%) and Detroit (8.9%).

Home sales in February rose 8.7% from a year earlier, continuing a trend of eight straight months above the previous year's total. February home sales climbed 8.1% above sales in January.

Of the metros, 45 saw increases over February 2011, with 26 jumping double digits, including: Albuquerque, N.M. (46.6%), Providence, R.I. (36.7%), Raleigh, N.C. (33.8%), Boston (30.5%) and Chicago (27.5%).

“All the data is pointing to a very active spring and summer selling season this year, which is great news for a recovering housing market,” RE/MAX Chief Executive Margaret Kelly said. “As sales numbers have trended higher for several months, we have been anticipating a turnaround in home prices, and it looks like it’s finally starting.”

Analysts at Barclays Capital on Monday said the homebuilder spring selling season has "arrived strongly enough to kick-start a positive feedback loop in housing for the first time since 2005."

Properties sold in February stood on the market for an average of 103 days, the same as in January and a year earlier, according to RE/MAX findings. In the last 12 months, the average fell below 90 in only two months — 88 in both July and September.

By Justin Hilley HousingWire Mar 16, 2012

Home prices rise for first time in 18 months: RE/MAX | HousingWire

Monthly median Scottsdale home prices are 'encouraging'

Scottsdale's median home prices in 2011 have ranged from a high of $359,000 in August to a low of $317,000 in September, according to monthly reports from Arizona State University Realty Studies.

As the year draws to a close, the median price in November of $345,000 was up 1.5 percent from a year earlier and 1.12 percent higher than it was at the start of 2011.

Throw out the high and low prices of August and September and Scottsdale's average monthly median price was $342,797 through November.

• Scottsdale home, condo prices through the year

For most of the year, the monthly median prices were down year-over-year from 1 percent to 10 percent. Only September and November recorded price increases of 3.6 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

"All of the numbers are encouraging," said Jeffrey Smith, West USA Realty vice president.

The inventory of houses is about 19,300 homes in Maricopa County, down from 54,000 less than two years ago, he said.

"There is demand for housing even though the demand is on vacation right now" until after the first of the year, Smith said.

Good homes, priced right are selling quickly in Scottsdale, he said.
Foreclosures a factor

Foreclosures are still a drag on the Scottsdale housing market but that could be changing.

In January, 29 percent of home sales were foreclosures and by November that declined to 16 percent, a low for the year.

That is far below the foreclosure figure for Maricopa County, which was 29 percent in November. The median home price countywide last month was $126,000, down 6.7 percent from a year earlier.

Jay Butler, ASU business professor emeritus, said another surge of foreclosures is possible in the spring if low consumer confidence prompts more people to give up on their homes.

"However, the key issue in the coming year will be whether investors become less of a factor and the homeowner-occupant market begins to improve," said Butler, author of ASU's monthly report on resale homes.

ASU tracks resale home prices, total sales and foreclosures in a monthly report. The latest report was released this week. The median price is the midpoint of all the sales.
Home sales on rise

Scottsdale home sales through November were 5,810, up 5 percent for the same period a year earlier.

Previously foreclosed houses accounted for 40 percent of sales countywide in November and were 18 percent of sales in north Scottsdale.

Scottsdale's median price for condominium and townhouse sales in November was $125,000, down 1.7 percent from a year earlier.

Condo prices started the year at $146,825, dipped to $115,250 in August and declined every month year-over-year except for September, which saw a 5 percent jump in prices.

Foreclosures accounted for a third of the condo sales in January and February but fell to 18 percent in November, the lowest figures this year.

Buyers purchased 3,214 condos through November, down 6 percent from 2010.

The median price of condo foreclosure sales in Scottsdale last month was $98,450. That is the first time the price has fallen below $100,000 in recent years.

Maricopa County's median price for condos and townhouses was $80,825 in November, down 0.2 percent from a year ago.

by Peter Corbett The Arizona Republic Dec. 16, 2011 08:58 AM



Monthly median Scottsdale home prices are 'encouraging'

After drop, home prices on the rise in Valley

In August, as metro Phoenix home prices dipped to another new low, some real-estate analysts predicted the area's home values would keep falling. Other analysts disagreed, saying all the indicators, besides home prices, were heading in the right direction for values to climb before year's end.

The median price for an existing Phoenix-area home climbed to $119,900 in November, according to a new report from the Information Market. It's the region's highest median home price since November 2010.

In October, Phoenix's median home price was $115,000, which is where it had hovered most of the first half of this year. But when it fell to $112,000 in August, some market watchers thought it would drop all the way down to $100,000 by the end of this year. Of course, some panic ensued.

But the housing analysts who were watching foreclosures fall, sales climb ahead of last year's pace and listings plummet, stood firm in their opinion that home prices would begin to rise again.

During the past few months, not only short-sale prices but the prices for foreclosure resales known as REOs, or real-estate owned, have been steadily climbing. In some areas of metro Phoenix, REOs are now selling for more than houses sold through lender-approved short-sale deals. In 2008 and 2009, REOs were dragging down the area's home values as lenders took back houses through foreclosure and then resold them quickly for bargain prices to get the properties off their books.

Home prices are also climbing at foreclosure auctions, also known as trustee sales, held daily in front of the Maricopa County Courthouse. The auctions are Arizona's method for lenders to foreclose.

In 2008, when foreclosures started to climb, few properties sold at these trustee auctions. Back then, lenders weren't lowering prices beyond what was owed on a house, so investors weren't interested in purchasing a house for at least twice what it was actually worth. But once lenders started lowering prices to much less than what they were owed, bidding picked up quickly.

Competition is also driving up prices at the trustee auctions. Each month this year, more than 1,000 foreclosure homes have been bought at Maricopa County trustee auctions. That compares with 100 per month at the beginning of the crash.

by Catherine Reagor The Arizona Republic Dec. 9, 2011 04:04 PM




After drop, home prices on the rise in Valley

Economists warn housing prices will lose more ground

U.S. home prices were largely flat in August from a month earlier and down almost 4% from a year ago, with more declines ahead, economists say.

The Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller home price data, released Tuesday, showed non-seasonally adjusted prices dipping in 10 of 20 major metropolitan areas in August from July.

Yet there was a "modest glimmer of hope" in that year-over-year results in 16 of 20 cities were better than they had been in recent months, says David Blitzer, chairman of the S&P index committee.

Case-Shiller's 20-city index showed prices down 3.8% in August from a year ago, while the 10-city index posted a 3.5% decline. August prices were flat with July in the 20-city index when adjusted for seasonal factors and down 0.2% when not adjusted.

The market is battling high unemployment, rampant foreclosures in some areas, weak consumer confidence and tight lending standards.

Prices will fall another 5% to 10%, says IHS Global Insight economist Patrick Newport. They'll fall even more if the U.S. economy falls into recession, he says.

Consumers clearly are distraught. Consumer confidence plunged in October to its lowest level since March 2009, the Conference Board, a private research group, said Tuesday.

The tremendous volatility in equity markets, and the European debt issue, are driving concerns, IHS says.

In addition, consumers are concerned about business conditions, the job market and income prospects, says Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center. That will be a drag on home prices, says Jed Kolko, economist for real estate website Trulia.

The latest housing price report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, also released Tuesday, points to a weaker housing market than previously thought, says Paul Ashworth, economist for Capital Economics.

The FHFA index -- which measures sales prices of homes owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae-- shows prices slipping 0.1% in August, for their first monthly decline since March.

Some regions are performing better than others.

Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis all posted monthly home price increases going back to May, the Case-Shiller data show.

The markets were some of the weakest, particularly Detroit. But as of August, home prices in Detroit were up 2.7% from a year earlier -- the most of any city measured by Case-Shiller.

Detroit is rising faster than others because it fell so far, Kolko says. But home prices in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis and Boston were also up slightly in August from May -- even when adjusted for seasonal factors, Kolko says.

Those cities tend to have stronger economies, lower housing vacancy rates or both, he adds.

Year-over-year, only Washington, D.C., joined Detroit in posting higher prices. Prices were up 0.3% in Washington in August vs. a year ago, according to Case-Shiller.

by Julie Schmit USA Today Oct. 27, 2011 12:06 PM




Economists warn housing prices will lose more ground

Scottsdale condo prices up nearly 5% as foreclosures fall

Here's a look at home and condo prices for Scottsdale in 2011. Click "Next" to view previous months.

by Peter Corbett The Arizona Republic Oct. 24, 2011 07:51 AM

Scottsdale condo prices up nearly 5% as foreclosures fall

Home prices up in half of major US cities

WASHINGTON — Home prices rose in August in half of major U.S. cities measured by a private survey, a sign that prices are stabilizing in some hard-hit portions of the country.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index showed Tuesday that prices increased in August from July in 10 of the 20 cities tracked. That marked the fifth straight month that at least half of the cities in the survey showed gains.

The biggest price increases were in Washington, Chicago and Detroit. The greatest declines were in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Over the past 12 months, prices have fallen in all but two cities — Detroit and Washington.

Analysts warn that prices are certain to fall again once banks resume millions of foreclosures that have been delayed because of a yearlong government investigation into mortgage lending practices.

The index, which covers half of all U.S. homes, measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The August data are the latest available.

Home prices have stabilized in coastal cities over the past six months, helped by a rush of spring buyers and investors. But this year, home prices in many cities, including Cleveland, Detroit, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tampa, have reached their lowest points since the housing bust more than four years ago.

Sales of previously occupied home sales are on pace to match last year’s dismal figures — the worst in 13 years. Sales of new homes fell to a six-month low in August and this year could be the worst since the government began keeping records a half century ago.

Housing is a key reason why the economy continues to struggle more than two years after the recession officially ended. Foreclosures and short sales — when a lender accepts less for a home than what is owed on a mortgage — makes up about 30 percent of all home sales last month, up from about 10 percent in past years. The large number of unsold homes and foreclosures are sending prices lower and hurting sales.

by Derek Kravitz Associated Press Oct. 25, 2011 06:32 AM




Home prices up in half of major US cities