06-01-2016
Metro Phoenix housing market has best month in a decade April just might have been the best month for metro Phoenix's housing market in a decade. Foreclosures fell to the lowest level since 2006. Homebuilding continued to rebound. Phoenix kept its spot as one of most affordable big metro areas for ...
09-26-2014
More Phoenix homeowners have equity now Fewer metro Phoenix homeowners are underwater now, according to CoreLogic. Approximately 19.5% of the Valley's homeowners owed more than their house is worth as of June 30, down from 21% at the end of this year's first quarter. At the worst of the housing cra ...
09-05-2014
Phoenix-area home sales, prices cool in July In Metro Phoenix, both sales and prices dipped in July. Home sales fell 4.5% and the median home sales price inched down to $210,000 compared with June, according to the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. The housing market's mode ...
08-25-2014
Ariz. homebuilders offering deals New-home prices across metro Phoenix soared too high and too fast in 2012 and 2013 for many buyers to handle, leading to a slump in sales. Home prices have dropped slightly this summer, and builders are trying to lure buyers by offering incentives that include lowe ...
Click Here for All Articles
From Date       To Date

News Article From: 09-06-2007



The first article, Pending home sales hit 6-year low, from MSNBC.com, reports that the National Association of Realtors index of pending home sales for existing homes fell 16.1 percent in July from a year ago and 12.2 percent from the prior month. The pending home sales index is designed to predict sales levels over the following two months. The July 2007 reading of 89.9 was the lowest since September 2001. "Numbers like this should put to rest the belief that we've reached the bottom" in the housing market, said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Commerce Bancorp Inc. "There's still a lot of pain that's ahead of us." The NAR attributes the decline to the fact that government sponsored mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae cannot package "jumbo" home loans above $417,000 into securities sold to investors. Some home purchases aren't closing because mortgage loans have been "falling through at the last moment," according to Lawrence Yun, senior economist for the NAR.
 
 
The second article, Surviving the slump, from the Arizona Republic, reports that the housing slump is affecting many local companies who's business rely on a strong real estate market. The article cites two firms-- Landiscor Aerial Information and engineering firm Coe & Van Loo Consultants and the impact that the slowing market has had on their business. RL Brown, housing analyst and publisher, said Arizona companies need to face reality and try to make money in the current housing climate, because a repeat of 2004 and '05 isn't going to happen. "Businesses that made a lot of money because of the housing market a few years ago better expect to give some of it back this year," he said. Many in the industry hoped for the housing market to rebound in early 2007, or at least by midyear. Now, the forecast  is for housing to stop slowing sometime in mid 2008. Metro Phoenix housing sales and building permits are off 20 to 30 percent from last year, which was down 30 percent from 2005, according to Brown. Home prices are down about 5 percent, and foreclosures have climbed 10-fold. A record 50,000 plus homes are on the market and its taking them an average of 92 days to sell. "Metro Phoenix's housing market has a tough year or two ahead of it," said Tim Sullivan of San Diego-based Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors. Still, the key is not to panic, he added. Local economist Elliott Pollack said that Phoenix is still drawing people and has an unemployment rate lower than the national average. "The area's growth bodes well for its housing market to rebound more quickly than other parts of the country," Pollack said.
 
 
Invest With Leonid © 2007
A CompuGor Website