IN AZ ECONOMY TODAY
Areas with the most affordable houses continue to see the biggest increases in price.
Things are looking up for market as prices rise and investors no longer shut out regular buyers
It’s all blue skies and sunshine in the housing market this year.
Homeowners have seen their property values soar. Because investors have pulled back on purchases after pushing up prices last year, more regular homebuyers finally are able to unload their moving trucks.
Mercifully for regular sellers and buyers, the market has calmed, giving off a less frenzied vibe than in the 2004-06 boom, the five years of the crash and during the early recovery that began in 2012. Now, more houses are for sale to meet the demand of prospetive buyers and interest rates are low. To top off the sunny picture, houses are still affordable.
The Valley’s median sales price has climbed 30 percent so far this year, and values are up in every neighborhood across metro Phoenix in 2013, according to
latest Valley Home Values report.
Most areas have experienced double-digit increases in home prices so far this year, and a few parts of the region have seen values return to boom levels. Many areas of the Valley with the most affordable houses continue to see the biggest percentage increases, according to
analysis of sales information provided by real-estatedata firm Information Market.
That rise in value brings the percentage of underwater homeowners, with mortgages exceeding their house’s value, down to about one of every four in metro Phoenix, compared with nearly one of every two in the same period in 2012.
A growing balance has contributed to the kinder, gentler, more peaceful market.
“Although demand still exceeds supply, they are fast moving toward each other,” said Michael Orr, director of the Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business.
During the first nine months of the year, home sales have been a bit off last year’s pace. The huge drop in the number of foreclosures and short sales for investors to purchase cheaply is behind the overall drop.
“The number of homes for sale is up and will keep climbing,” said Robyne Roveccio, a real-estate agent with Keller Williams Scottsdale office. “The