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The first article, Arizona ranks No. 2 for job growth, from the Phoenix Business Journal, reports that Arizona held the No. 2 spot for job growth among states in July behind Nevada, according to the most recent Blue Chip Job Growth Update released Tuesday. Arizona had 2.58 million jobs as of July 2006, up from 2.47 million in July of 2005. That's a 4.75 percent increase, much higher than the national average of 1.3 percent. Arizona ranked No. 1 in two job categories; trade with a 5.37 percent gain and hospitality with a 5.82 percent increase. Good news for our future real estate market-- as long as we have population and job growth our real estate market will be strong.

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2006/09/04/daily7.html?t=printable

The second article, Growth of home prices across nation takes steep plunge, from the Arizona Republic, reports that price growth for homes slowed during the second quarter from a year earlier in the sharpest three month plunge on record. Prices for single-family homes nationally rose an average of 1.17 percent during the period, compared with 3.65 percent growth in the second quarter of 2005, according to a report issued by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise in Washington, D.C. The drop was the largest since the agency began keeping records in 1975. The median price of a Valley resale was $265,000 in July, $10,000 higher than July's 2005 figure but a $2,000 dip from June 2006.

http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/clicktrack/print.php?referer=http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0906biz-talker0906.html