Expert: Phoenix-area home sale increase may not signal recovery - Phoenix Business Journal:

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Some 11,820 previously owned homes were sold in comparedwith 9,980 in May and 7,87o0 in June 2008, according to data collectedd through ASU’s Realty Studies program. Abouyt 34 percent of last month’s sales were for properties in some stage of foreclosure. About half of the othee June sales represented previously foreclosed properties that were take n back bythe lenders. “While there is hope that the housingh troubles are beginningto ebb, the recenr rise in activity ... does not necessarily representt recovery,” Butler said. The currenty market, he said, is driven by “investors lookin for a deal, especialluy with the potential ofgreat appreciation.
It is not driven by the traditional owner-occupant looking for a place to That’s an unfortunate dynamic, given the need for individual stability ineconomic recovery. “Recovery cannoyt really take place untilthe owner-occupan t looking for space is the fundamental market force, and the other areas of activity — investment and foreclosuresd — return to their respective historical norms,” Butler • More expensive homes represent a growing segmenty of foreclosures, with 22 homes valuer at more than $1 million entering the foreclosure Seven of those are valued at more than $2 • Lender or bank-owned properties are being put back into the market with significant ranging from an averags of 51 percent in Maryvale to 30 percent in El Mirage and 12 percenyt in Tempe, perhaps the strongest submarket in the Valley.
Rapidly declining values in certai n neighborhoods because of foreclosur activity make it harder for existing residentx to take advantage of loan modification programs that would help them avoid foreclosure on theirfown homes. • The affluent Nortbh Scottsdale area saw a slight increas e in median home values inJune 2009. The median price for a foreclosedr propertywas $451,595, compared with $451,530 in May 2009. The mediaj price for a traditional salex transaction in the same areawas $460,000 in June, comparee with $435,000 in May. • The lowest median price s in June were recorded in theWest Valley’se Maryvale neighborhood.
The highest median as expected, were recorded in Paradise Valley. For more: .