There may be reasons to smile again when discussing the Greater Phoenix real estate market… not a big I just fell in love grin, but not the sad clowns face of the past couple years.

We are basically supply and demand guys. We like to see the supply fairly low and the demand legitimately robust. We say legitimately because it was the artificial Federal Government’s tax credit of 2010 that decimated the summer/fall real estate market. Thanks to their unwise efforts we saw a meteoric drop in demand and home values from July to November of 2010.

The good news is that supply is going down in most areas of greater Phoenix, especially with regard to bank owned homes where we have seen a 15% drop in 2011. It is also most evident with homes in the $75,000 to $225,000 price range. Below is a look at several Cities that are showing significant supply reductions.

• Tonopah: -20%
• Maricopa: -18%
• Goodyear: -10%
• Carefree: -10.7%
• Glendale: 6.6%
• Phoenix: 6.5%

In the downtown region of Phoenix we have seen similar happy events:

• One Lexington reports they have sold 70% of their condos.
• 3rd Avenue Palms is reporting robust sales. Some are our clients.
• The 2011 stats indicate downtown has less than 4 months of home/condo supply. Six months or less is a good sign.
• The large turnout for historic home tours shows a sign of downtown interest and potential demand.

The decrease in supply and traditional upswing in buying during this time of year lends a measure of hope. Should these trends continue through April we will be very happy guys… your very happy real estate guys. Thanks for reading our Phoenix real estate market report.

Gene Urban and Ron Urban
The Urban Team at Realty Executives
602-234-5777

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