Community Summary
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The Phoenix metro area ranked 12th in AOL Shopping’s annual list of top cities for online holiday shopping. 74% of Phoenix metro area Internet users will shop online this year, a higher percentage than in New York or Los Angeles. Phoenix was ranked 18th last year.
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Scottsdale was ranked the 6th popular summer tourist destination in the U.S. by a survey of jet owners and members of Flight Option. Scottsdale Airport shows the number of jets in and out of the city in June, July and August has increased 27% since 2005.
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Plans for another retail center in Chandler were submitted this month by the developers of Downtown Ocotillo. “We are investing more in south Chandler because of the dynamic employment and quality residential growth.” Downtown Ocotillo, to be constructed in late spring 2008, will feature a live-work-dine-shop environment.
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- The median existing-home price for all housing types in the Greater Phoenix area was $235,000 in October 2007, steady with the prior month (a $100 increase), and reflected a 6% decrease to last year’s $250,000.
Source: Realtor.org; ARMLS
Janet's Note:
Median price range is not a good market comparison in my opinion. Median price range is ONLY a gauge and is not a good way to truly assess values
*Please note that 85331 zip codes is the Town of Cave Creek, Phoenix and Maricopa COunty Island and not a good gauge for values.
Click to View Home Value Chart
- New home permits for October 2007 totaled 1,325; down 43% from October 2006’s total of 2,341 permits.
- Resale closings reached 3,533 in October 2007; down 44% from the same period last year.
Janet's Note:
Let's not forget how much it was UP!
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- Phoenix new vehicle registrations were down 14% in September 2007– 16,547 now compared to 20,230 in September 2006. Year to date registrations are down 9% year over year.
Source: Polk
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- Overall occupancy level – October 2007: 70.0% October 2006: 70.6%
- In 2006, Arizona’s 34 million visitors spent $18.6 billion, up 6% year-over-year. On average, tourists spent $50 million a day in the state, the majority in Maricopa county.
- Phoenix International Raceway is expected to have an overall economic impact of more than $500 million on Arizona this year, more than the upcoming Super Bowl. The latest NASCAR race brought in more than 200,000 people.
- Phoenix will host the 58th NBA All-Star Game which will tip off February of 2009. The event is figured to produce a direct spend of at least $40 million.
Source: Smith Travel Research ; AZ Dept. of Tourism
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The Town of Cave Creek encompasses approximately 31 square miles. The town is now working with the State Land Department to annex additional State Land parcels to the West which would enable 11 square miles of additional preservation land.
If the town is successful in its efforts, Cave Creek will have 40% of its land preserved and largely used for recreational horseback riding and hiking. Taking into consideration the Town's density, there would be 55% open space! Bordering the Tonto National Forest to the north, the town already has access to almost 3 MILLION ACRES of recreational land!
City of Scottsdale, "Once the final leg of the Sonoran McDowell Preserve is completed, One-third of the City of Scottsdale will be preserved. There is very little developable land left in the City of Scottsdale.
If there is any question of your Real Estate purchase being a wise investment in Scottsdale, Cave Creek or Carefree, look no further than the old rule of supply and demand! Where else can you live with so much open space to enjoy, great weather and beautiful views!" |
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Mohr Homes Newsletter
Spring 2008
Making Sense of Contradictory Foreclosure Numbers
San Franciso Chronicle
May 16, 2008
by Carol Lloyd
This real estate market isn't so much good, bad or indifferent as topsy-turvy.
Usually that's because the market downturn hasn't been an equal opportunity destroyer. Micro-markets reign and rarely move in lockstep. Still, once the analysts crunch their numbers, they come up with some figures that allow for a few broad generalizations: median home prices are slipping, for instance, or the luxury markets are booming.
Occasionally though, you get numbers that seem downright contradictory. This week I received two press releases from two competing foreclosure companies that had me head-scratching like an ungroomed bonobo. (Forgive my liberal quoting of PR copy, I promise it's for an educational rather than promotional cause.)
One was from RealtyTrac, a Web site in Southern California that lists foreclosures and issues monthly market reports on the state of foreclosure in the 50 states. The press release announced: "Foreclosure activity increases 4 percent in April."
James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac issued the following gloomy view of the housing market: "The total number of U.S. properties with foreclosure activity in April was the highest monthly total we've seen since we began issuing the report in January 2005. Although only about 2 percent of households nationwide are in foreclosure, these properties contribute to already bloated inventories of homes for sale, and put downward pressure on home values.
<Read the Complete Article Here>
The Housing Crisis Is Over?
May 27, 2008
Is it time to start house hunting? Cyril Moulle-Bertaux opined that April 2008 marked the bottom of the U.S. housing market.
And in his R.O.I. column WSJ’s Brett Arends makes a similar argument. He looks at the data on housing starts since 1972, which shows that new housing starts slumped below the one million mark in March. Every time that has happened in the last 50 years, Mr. Arends writes, it proved to be the bottom of a recession.
“It’s bottom-fishing time, I think,” says Wellesley College Prof. Karl E. Case in the column. Mr. Arends says that he is one of the leading experts on the housing market in the country. “There’s got to be bargains in Florida, Arizona and Nevada.”
Mr. Arends points out that Bill Wheaton, a legendary real-estate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has also suggested that fears about the real-estate crash were overdone. And he points to a private portfolio manager in London, who said the homebuilding stocks on Wall Street were at last a “buy.”
In the Journal editorial, Mr. Moulle-Bertaux suggests that the housing market will revive, as more first-time buyers are lured in by falling prices and lower mortgage rates. “Homes on average are back to being as affordable as during the best of times in the 1990s,” he writes. “Numerous households that had been priced out of the market can now afford to get in.”
To be sure, as Mr. Arends points out, there is no guarantee that this downturn will follow the patterns of the past. And he notes that prices in many areas are far from a historic bargain. And where there is a glut, prices — obviously — are likely to stay lower for longer. But in many areas, prices are low and buyers may be tempted.
Readers, are you tempted?
The Housing Crisis Is Over
The Wall Street Journal
May 6, 2008
by Cyril Moulle-Berteaux
The dire headlines coming fast and furious in the financial and popular press suggest that the housing crisis is intensifying. Yet it is very likely that April 2008 will mark the bottom of the U.S. housing market. Yes, the housing market is bottoming right now.
How can this be? For starters, a bottom does not mean that prices are about to return to the heady days of 2005. That probably won't happen for another 15 years. It just means that the trend is no longer getting worse, which is the critical factor.
Most people forget that the current housing bust is nearly three years old. Home sales peaked in July 2005. New home sales are down a staggering 63% from peak levels of 1.4 million. Housing starts have fallen more than 50% and, adjusted for population growth, are back to the trough levels of 1982.
Furthermore, residential construction is close to 15-year lows at 3.8% of GDP; by the fourth quarter of this year, it will probably hit the lowest level ever. So what's going to stop the housing decline? Very simply, the same thing ...
<Read the Complete Article Here>
The Business Journal of Phoenix
Friday November 23, 2007
by Angela Gonzalez
Burgeoning ranks of excelling schools could
be a boon to business recruitment
Nearly 400 of Arizona's schools are "excelling," according to the Arizona Department of Education's recently released achievement profiles. Those include 14 percent of the state's charter schools and 22 percent of those in public school districts.
This report comes as Arizona is trying to attract knowledge-based employers and talent to its work force, despite its reputation for having a poor public education system ...
<Read the Complete Article Here>
The Business Journal of Phoenix
Friday December 28, 2007
by Jan Buchholz
Commercial thrives, despite residential downturn
A gigantic apartment complex portfolio and two downtown office buildings were among the largest commercial real estate deals of 2007, marking a year that sizzled in sharp contrast to the downtrodden residential sector.
By far, the largest commercial deal in the Valley was a $427.5 million apartment portfolio of 12 properties. It may be the largest deal in Phoenix commercial real estate history. Called the Bascom Apartment Portfolio, the properties are peppered across the Valley.
Coming in second was Collier Center I, which sold for $176.8 million. That may, however, not hold as the second-priciest deal. Another downtown office center, One and Two Renaissance Square, is in escrow and reportedly will close at a sale price of more than $270 million.
Another big deal was the Allred Cotton Center, an office park in the West Valley, which changed hands in March. That was followed by Chase Tower downtown, a senior housing community in Sun City West, an office complex northeast of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, a coveted land parcel in Paradise Valley, an office complex in north Scottsdale, an apartment complex near Tempe Town Lake and another apartment ...
<Read the Complete Article Here>
The Business Journal of Phoenix
Thursday April 5, 2007
by Adam Kress
Phoenix again claims top spot for job growth
As per the usual, the Phoenix area is No.1 for new jobs.
Arizona State University's Blue Chip Job Growth Update ranks the area first among the nation's largest metro markets for employment growth between February 2007 over February 2006.
The area's 4.8 percent increase in total nonagricultural employment represents 89,200 new jobs. In metropolitan markets with less than 1 million workers, the Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss., area ranked No. 1, posting a 14.5 percent gain equating to 13,500 jobs.
Among states, Utah holds the top position in nonagricultural job growth for February, with a 4.4 percent increase, representing 52,000 jobs. Michigan remains in last place, with a 1 percent decrease, losing nearly 45,000 jobs.
Overall, the U.S. economy grew by close to 2 million jobs in February 2007 over February 2006, an increase of 1.5 percent.
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