The housing market in the Phoenix metro area is showing signs of improvement, according to a study released today by the W.P. Carey School of Business.
Single family home prices overall in the Phoenix area have been moving up since they reached a low point in September,” said Michael Orr, the author of the report and the director of the Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice. According to the data, the median sales price of a single family home is up 6.5 percent in January compared with January 2011. That number is $120,500 as compared with $113,166 a year ago. From an average price standpoint, the increase is 1.7 percent. That number is $163,813 as compared with $161,012 a year ago. The price per square foot has increased 2.9 percent. That number is $82.62 per square foot as compared with $80.27 a year ago.
New home sales are up 49 percent in January from January 2011. That number is 496 as compared with 333 a year ago. New sales were concentrated in Gilbert with 130 sales, followed by Phoenix with 50, Chandler with 49 and Goodyear with 43. Orr said there’s no longer an oversupply of homes for sale in prices less than $300,000. Investors, Orr said, have purchased most of the glut of homes in the low to moderate price ranges. “Many people think there is a glut of homes the banks are hiding somewhere, and that may be the case in other markets, but not here in the Phoenix area,” Orr said. “We’ve gone through so many foreclosures that the system has been working itself out for about five years.”
In all there were about 8,000 home sales in the Phoenix metro area in January as compared with less than 7,500 a year earlier. The peak buying season begins in February, so further improvements are expected. “Buyers from Canada, New Zealand and Australia, in particular, are taking advantage of the exchange rates to purchase investment and vacation homes,” Orr said.
