Phoenix Area Home Market Update 8-11-05

Here, for what it is worth, is a clip from a recent Arizona Republic article on future predictions for the Phoenix area home market. This is just one article (among many) and is a point of view to consider (among many) in predicting what might happen in the Phoenix home market.

Home sales likely at or near peak in Valley

Prices predicted to rise 10% in '06
Catherine ReagorThe Arizona RepublicAug. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

Home sales across metropolitan Phoenix are near or at a peak, but any slowing should be less than what is expected nationally.Valley housing analysts are calling for home prices to increase next year by at least 10 percent, double the rate the National Association of Realtors forecast for the U.S. housing market Tuesday in a midyear cautionary report. Metro Phoenix home sales, which so far are 25 percent ahead of last year's record pace, could fall less than 10 percent in 2006.

"No one says the market is going to crash, only that the housing market's growth rate won't continue at this pace," said Jay Butler, director of the Arizona Real Estate Center at Arizona State University's Polytechnic campus. This year, the median price of a U.S. existing home is expected to climb 10.5 percent, to reach $204,000. Through June, the median price of an existing metro Phoenix home had already jumped 32 percent, to hit a record $250,000. Valley home sales and prices likely climbed again in July. Those figures will be released next week. But there are signs the market's frenzy could be ebbing. The past two months, it has taken longer for Valley homes to sell, and the number of homes for sale has climbed.