Real Estate Information

Mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates have decreased both in Arizona and nationwide since last year, according to a new survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association .

Arizona was below the national rate in both delinquencies and foreclosures.

The Arizona mortgage delinquency rate fell to 6.35 percent, down significantly from 2011’s first quarter rate of 8.23 percent, according to the MBA.

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Arizona has regained one-quarter of the jobs lost during the economic crisis and the job market is on track to fully recover in 2015, experts said Tuesday.

Housing and economy experts from Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business offered optimistic but guarded predictions at the annual economic-forecast luncheon held by the Economic Club of Phoenix. About 250 people attended the event.

The 2015 estimate mirrors that given by the experts last year, which may be a positive sign. In earlier years, economists would make similar predictions but push back Arizona's recovery date the next year because the state was healing more slowly than they had expected.

"The jobs recovery is under way, but the full recovery is still ahead of us," said Lee McPheters, an economics-research professor and director of the JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center.

Arizona lost about 314,000 jobs between October 2007 and September 2010. As of March, it has regained about 78,000 of those jobs, McPheters said.

Arizona is also gaining jobs faster than other states, he said.

In March, Arizona ranked eighth in the U.S. in job growth, according to an ASU estimate. At this time last year, Arizona was 36th.

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Home prices in the Phoenix area increased by 7.7 percent from March 2011 to March 2012, according to a survey by CoreLogic , a California-based data and research firm.

Take the distressed sales out, and the number declines to 4 percent growth, meaning the greatest price increases are being felt in distressed home sales. For purposes of the survey, distressed homes include short sales and foreclosed properties.

Including distressed sales, the five states with the greatest appreciation from February to March this year were Wyoming (5.9 percent), West Virginia (5.3 percent), Arizona (5.1 percent), North Dakota (4.7 percent) and Florida (4.5 percent).

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Based on the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) report released on Monday which monitors housing markets showing measurable and sustained improvement, there was little change from the month prior, with one major exception – Phoenix, Arizona, previously not in the top 20 improving markets list, shot to the second most improving market in the nation.

With 35 states represented in the top 100 improving markets remains steady this month as well. The index identifies metropolitan areas that have shown improvement from their respective troughs in housing permits, employment and house prices for at least six consecutive months.

The top spot continues to be taken by Little Rock, AR and most others simply moved up one spot, but including Phoenix, four new cities entered the top 20 for the month – Pensacola, Florida, Hinesville, Georgia, and Warner Robbins, Georgia, which is fascinating given how much Georgia’s capital is struggling. Much of the list continues to be dominated by Florida with a strong showing in Colorado and now Georgia.

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WASHINGTON - Average U.S. rates for 30-year and 15-year fixed mortgages fell to fresh record lows this week, offering more incentive for Americans to buy or refinance homes.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan fell to 3.84 percent, the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s. That's below the previous record rate of 3.87 percent reached in February.

The 15-year mortgage, a popular option for refinancing, dropped to 3.07 percent, also a record. The previous record of 3.11 percent was hit three weeks ago.

Cheaper mortgage rates haven't done much to boost home sales. Rates have been below 4 percent for all but one week since early December. Yet sales of both previously occupied homes and new homes fell in March.

Analysts suspect some of that weakness reflected a warm winter, which pulled sales that would normally occur during the spring buying season into January and February.

Still, many potential buyers can't qualify for loans or afford higher down payments required by banks. Home prices in many cities continue to fall, making those that can afford to buy uneasy about entering the market. And many who can afford to buy or refinance have already taken advantage of lower rates.

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Home prices are surging in metro Phoenix, climbing 8 percent in March alone and 20 percent in the past 12 months.

The median price of a house in the region climbed to $134,900, according to a new report from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

The trend is projected to continue throughout the year, although at a slower pace.

Mike Orr, director of the Center for Real Estate Theory at ASU, doesn't expect home prices to continue to climb as fast as they did in March over the next few months. But he projects metro Phoenix's housing appreciation for 2012 to reach 25 percent by September.

Orr credits the turnaround to steep drops in foreclosures and in the number of homes for sale, coupled with an increase in sales.

Fewer foreclosures means fewer inexpensive homes for buyers. The number of homes taken back by lenders in metro Phoenix is down 60 percent from March 2011.

Housing inventory has dropped steadily during the past year because of a record number of investors snapping up properties out of foreclosure.

Home sales are up 35 percent from a year ago as more regular buyers have joined investors in the mix.

"Prices have begun to rise at a fast pace, and bargains are no longer plentiful," Orr said. "Most homes that are priced well are attracting multiple offers within a couple of days, and many are exceeding the asking price."

March's price increase was the sixth in a row for Phoenix's housing market. Most real-estate analysts say the streak of rising home prices, along with slower foreclosures, is proof a housing recovery is under way.

A growing number of national real-estate analysts say metro Phoenix is leading the U.S.' housing market's recovery.

Phoenix home values are forecasted to experience the largest national gains in 2012, according to a recent report by Zillow  Inc, a Seattle-based real estate tracker.

Released Wednesday, Zillow’s report for the first quarter of 2012 predicted Phoenix home appreciation rising 6.5 percent between March 2012 and March 2013, the largest growth amongst the 30 major metros included in the report.

Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, credits the recent month-to-month performance of Phoenix home values for this forecast.

“In Phoenix, your February-to-March change is 1.4 percent, which is really quite extra ordinary,” he said.

Humphries explains that Phoenix has be experiencing “very fast monthly appreciation,” a pattern that has led to the Zillow to forecast this substantial increase in home values in the next year.

“Clearly what’s happening in Phoenix is that demand is outstripping supply,” said Humphries. “Phoenix is seeing a lot of investor demand, a lot of second home and retiree buyers and a fair bit of international buyers.”

Ultimately, Humphries describes the Valley’s residential price growth as “surprising.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Home prices dropped in February in most major U.S. cities for a sixth straight month, a sign that modest sales gains haven't been enough to boost prices.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index shows that prices dropped in February from January in 16 of the 20 cities it tracks.

The steepest declines were in Atlanta, Chicago and Cleveland. Prices rose in Phoenix, San Diego and Miami. They were unchanged in Dallas.

The declines partly reflect typical offseason sales. The month-to-month prices aren't adjusted for seasonal factors.

Still, prices fell in 15 of the 20 cities in February compared with the same month in 2011. That indicates that the housing market remains far from healthy despite the best winter for sales in five years.

The steady price declines have brought the nationwide index to its late 2002 level. Home prices have fallen 35 percent since the housing bust.

Prices in nine cities fell to their lowest levels since the housing bust. The average price in Atlanta fell 17.3 percent in February compared with a year earlier. That's the biggest annual drop in the history of the index for any city.

Still, there were some positive signs in the report: Phoenix, one of the cities hit hardest by the housing bust, has seen five straight monthly gains. And most cities are reporting smaller annual declines than in previous months.

The S&P/Case-Shiller monthly index covers half of all U.S. homes. It measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The February figures are the latest available.

Stan Humphries, chief economist for housing website Zillow.com, attributed the declines in part to heavy sales of foreclosed homes, which are usually sold at super-low prices. Foreclosures made up about one-fifth of February's sales.

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We've been reporting the declining inventory of homes for sale in the Casa Grande Valley and Phoenix metro area for months now.  We are thrilled to see national reports that the metros in the states hardest hit by foreclosures (California, Arizona and Florida) saw the highest drop in listing inventory over the past year.  

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