Metro Phoenix home prices are up. Fewer inexpensive homes are for sale, and the number of pending foreclosures is down.
The positive housing-market update comes from Arizona State University's newest real-estate report.
It's the first monthly housing analysis from Mike Orr, who was recently named director of the Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice for ASU's W.P. Carey School of Business.
Single-family home prices overall in the Phoenix area have been moving up since they reached a low point in September," Orr said in his debut monthly housing report.
"Also, looking forward, I expect a declining trend in foreclosures."
Orr also publishes a daily online analysis of Phoenix-area housing indicators called the "Cromford Report."
The median price of all home sales, including new homes, reached $120,500 in January of this year, Orr reports. That compares with $113,166 a year earlier.
The average price per square foot of Valley houses has climbed 3 percent since last year.
There were approximately 8,000 new and used homes sold in January, up from 7,500 in January 2011.
Orr said investors have snatched up the oversupply of homes for sale under $300,000.
"Many people think there's a glut of homes the banks are hiding somewhere, and that may be the case in other markets, but not here in the Phoenix area," he said.
"We've gone through so many foreclosures that the system has been working itself out for about five years."
In January, there were 2,450 single-family foreclosures in both Maricopa and Pinal counties, compared with 4,200 during January 2011, according to the ASU report.
The supply of homes listed for sale in metro Phoenix is down 42 percent from a year earlier.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/business/realestate/articles/2012/02/23/20120223report-upbeat-findings-arizona-housing-market.html#ixzz1oGssJWfa
by Catherine Reagor - Feb. 23, 2012 06:35 PM
The Arizona Republic | azcentral.com
