In an article at bizjournals.com, dated July 29th, Adam Kress reports that according to a research group called Metrostudy, both new home starts and existing home sales jumped way up in the 2nd Quarter of this year. 

Here is an excerpt from Adam’s article dealing with existing homes which has a little more relevance to those of us who live in urban Phoenix.

Metrostudy research, culled from Arizona Multiple Listing Service, puts existing single-family home listings at 28,904 in June, a 4.6-month supply.

“This supply level is usually indicative of a sellers’ market,” Sage said. “However, supply varies by neighborhood and by price segment. In the above-$500,000 price range there is an oversupply, since there is very little sales activity in this range.”

As of June, single-family MLS sales rose to an annual rate of 75,204 homes, a 62 percent increase from June 2008. The volume was driven by lender-owned properties, which comprised half of June sales.

Strong demand for distressed properties is driving up prices and limiting supply, which will probably temper the volume of sales in the second half of 2009, Sage said.

“With the decline in resale inventory and continued improvement in new-home inventory levels, the Phoenix housing market is showing the beginning signs of recovery,” Sage said. “Hurdles that still must be overcome include the weak job market, continued foreclosures and the effect of the expiration of the first-time homebuyer tax credit.”