From the North Scottsdale Independent, Tuesday 27 March
ASU report suggests housing rebound may be afoot
A March 27 housing report from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University may show the first glimpse of a housing rebound in the Phoenix metropolitan area, a press release states.
The report reveals some surprising information for Maricopa and Pinal counties, as of February including a 42 percent drop in housing supply, foreclosures sales down 52 percent compared to last February and continuous rises in single-family-home prices.
The report’s author, Mike Orr, says some realtors are actually starting to call around to ask people whether they would consider selling homes in desirable neighborhoods.
“Supply is tight, in a pretty extreme way, and it looks likely to stay that way for months,” Mr Orr, director of the center for real estate theory and practice at W. P. Carey, said in a March 27 press release. “The inventory of single-family homes for sale under $250,000 (without a contract already) is less than 25 days of supply. This is highly unusual and signals a market heavily out of balance, with far more buyers than sellers. It’s now becoming a matter of how much of a price increase will get people to start putting their homes back on the market.”
The median price for a single-family home sold in the Phoenix area in February was up 8.3 percent from last year. This includes new-home sales, and it’s an increase from $115,000 to $124,500. Realtors will note the average price per-square-foot went up 4.1 percent.
Mr. Orr says he expects to see lots of activity and even “frantic attempts” to buy over the next three months. This is likely to push prices even higher“One thing that could slow this down is appraisals,” Mr. Orr explains. “That’s because appraisers are still looking at prices from up to three months ago, and they may be reluctant to write appraisals that match the now-higher market value. This will continue to give all-cash buyers a big advantage over those who need to secure a loan.”
Mr. Orr says foreclosures and short sales continue to exert a strong influence on the market. They represent about 20 percent of total sales. New home sales make up only 6 percent of the total market.
Buyers from outside Arizona account for 26 percent of the transactions.
Also, despite the positive momentum, Mr. Orr points out there are still many Phoenix-area homeowners with loans exceeding the market value of their houses.