Yesterday Jay Butler of director of Realty Studies at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus released his monthy Phoenix resale report. Butler reports that sales were at 4,520, and that the median home price was $260,000. He said:
This is the lowest monthly level for January since 4,220 sales were reported in 2003, which was the year that the hyper-market began in the local area.
The median home price has been very stable at $260,000, an improvement from December’s $255,900 and last year’s $257,000. Although this is the first year-to-year improvement since August 2006, several areas are continuing to show declining price activity. For January 2007, 15 percent of all recorded sales were for homes priced from $125,000 to $199,999, 43 percent for $200,000 to $299,999 and 39 percent for homes priced more than $300,000.Last year, the distribution was 20 percent of all recorded sales were for homes priced from $125,000 to $199,999, 40 percent for $200,000 to $299,999 and 36 percent for homes priced more than $300,000. The increase in the higher price levels demonstrates how the move-up market tends to become more obvious in a slowing market. Since the greater Phoenix area is so large, the median price can range significantly from $665,000 ($657,000 in December) in North Scottsdale to $148,000 ($150,000 in December) in the Sky Harbor area of the city of Phoenix.
It appears then, that the higher median price is a function of the mix of sales [the market now having a higher ratio of move up buyers than last year] rather than same house appreciation. These figures are not adjusted for inflation, and do not reflect incentives, so this is probably overstating appreciation:
