Phoenix Home Prices Rise 34% in 2012

According to the Phoenix Business Journal, "After a seasonal slowdown during the scorching summer months, the metro Phoenix housing market was back on the upswing again in October with existing home prices up more than 34 percent year-over-year"

More news from the same article indicates that the median sales prices are going up. " single-family home price climbed to $157,000 in October, compared with $116,800 in October of last year, the report said. The October price gains were also notable given the fact that area’s dramatic surge in home prices earlier this year had leveled off in the four months prior, hovering around $149,000 and $150,000. It was also better than September when the median single-family home price, $150,000, was up by 27 percent year-over-year.

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Great News for Home Buyers

For all those buyers out there that have been discouraged about the crazy bidding process and the cash investors driving the prices out of reach, good news as reported by Trulia, cash investors are beginning to lose interest in the Phoenix market.


"Shrinking inventory and decreased foreclosures may mean that big investors are losing interest in Phoenix area real estate. As more folks wanting to move into their home purchases enter the market, investors are finding increasing competition for the relatively low number of available homes for sale. These two groups of buyers generally have different approaches to the home buying process; investors seek low priced properties where they feel they have a profit margin, while home buyers are willing to pay more for properties that meet their needs for shelter. Statistics indicate that around 1500 homes were foreclosed on last month, versus the 4,000-5,000 per month we commonly saw in 2011. This drop in foreclosures means that the primary source of inexpensive real estate that investors have been purchasing is drying up, forcing them to either compete with home buyers willing to pay higher prices to secure a purchase, or to seek other markets where the real estate recovery isn’t quite as far along as it is here. Although we owe a “thank you” to investors who carried the real estate market in Phoenix during the darkest times of the past several years, the increased interest of future home owners may mean increased stability in neighborhoods hit hardest by the double whammy of the mortgage crisis and real estate bust."