Phoenix foreclosures at lowest percentage of market since spring '09

Monday, November 14th, 2011, 3:48 pm

Foreclosures, as a percentage of the Phoenix metro housing market, reached their lowest level since April 2009, according to a report from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
Foreclosures made up 26% of the existing-home transactions in the Greater Phoenix market in October, down from 29% in September, according to the report, released Monday. Foreclosures made up 43% of the area’s single-family existing-home transactions in January, according to the report.
"Though the local housing market is beginning to produce some positive movement, the surrounding economic environment and anemic growth are still inhibiting consumer confidence," said Business Professor Emeritus Jay Butler. "Just because we’re seeing a drop in foreclosures, that doesn’t mean we have a healthy housing market. Other types of activity and purchases are not increasing, in order to push us forward."
Butler also noted that the numbers only look at recorded foreclosures. “Many more foreclosures may be lingering in the pipeline just because more paperwork and rules are being followed in the process now,” he said.
October marked the lowest number of completed foreclosures in quite a while. The market had 1,900 completed foreclosures in October, down from almost 2,300 in September. There were almost 3,400 completed foreclosures in October 2010. The last time the number of completed foreclosures dipped below 2,000 in a single month was back in February 2008.
Overall activity in the Phoenix-area housing market is also down. The market had slightly more than 7,200 transactions in October, down from almost 8,000 transactions in September. That’s partly due to the season as housing sales tend to slow down during the fall and winter months.
The median price for a single-family home resold (not new foreclosures) in the Phoenix market in October was $125,000, down from last October’s median of $135,000.