The Arizona Republic - December 2006
Metro Phoenix's housing market continues to show a steady pulse. Prices for existing homes edged up less than 1percent to $259,000, as 5,040 homes sold for the month, according to data from the Arizona Real Estate Center at Arizona State University Polytech.
The sales volume was the lowest for a November since 2002. However, the number of home sold was a slight improvement over the 4,985 sales in October.
Last year, nearly 7,200 homes sold in November.
"Instead of being overactive, or no pulse, it's running at a normal pulse," said Jay Butler, who heads the real estate center. "It's a good strong pulse. It's just not the pulse people like."
He notes that sales and prices are much more sustainable than those recorded in 2005.
"Last year it was like running a race," he said.
Sellers have been able to get about the same price for their homes the past several months. But while November's figure inched up some, the median remains below the $263,000 that homes fetched in November 2005.
Prices varied widely by part of the Valley. For example, the median price of a home sold in Scottsdale was $630,000, about 5.9percent higher than the same time last year. Meanwhile, median prices in Goodyear dropped 11.9percent to $252,000.
