Foreclosure Era in Phoenix: is the end is sight?
- Total MLS inventory has been ticking upward for the last couple of weeks; up nearly 300 hundred residences from the number I reported 9/2/11. At the moment, that number is 19,586 active listings in our local MLS. Homes are still selling quickly, and the small gain in active inventory may just signal a slight seasonal slow down as we move away from busy summer months and toward the holidays.
- Yesterday’s Arizona Republic discussed the several year’s market collapse in the valley in Phoenix-area real estate collapse echoed troubles. This analysis/retrospective points out that our real estate troubles came in waves, first due to problematic mortgages, later driven by owners hurt with employment loss. More pertinent is that foreclosures are seen ebbing from some areas, with home prices beginning to stabilize, and in rare cases, even climb a bit.
- “The age of the foreclosure is coming to an end,” Michael Orr (Cromford Report publisher). “I think we’re about 80% through this foreclosure mess(Tom Ruff, the Information Market).”
- Also in this article: The luxury market has been the last pricing segment significantly affected by foreclosures. But upper-end owners have not been immune to job and/or stock market losses, and short sales and foreclosures on jumbo mortgaged homes began escalating in 2009. Because of reluctance at absorbing these sizeable asset losses (higher loans aren’t federally insured), banks have delayed foreclosing on some properties. As a result, some still have to work through the system. Luxury homes entered the distressed scene a bit later than everyone else, and may be the last segment to correct.