Arizona Home Prices

By Steve de Laveaga, SVP Sales and Marketing FNT Maricopa

I have heard some really ridiculous statements of late from some media outlets and scholars who I am sure have not sold a home in a very long time about pricing possibly dropping another 20-22% in Maricopa County. The reality is there is NO WAY, pricing will be dropping across the board by anywhere close to that amount.

We at Fidelity Phoenix close approximately 2,000 transactions a month and it is clear we have more buyer activity right now, than we have had in the last 9 months, since the buyer credit went away. Secondly, we have cash investors and financed money investors that right now, are trying to get their money deployed but don't have enough product, so even if inventory increased by 10%, it would be grabbed up so quickly, it would not create a drop in prices. We are seeing again, multiple offers on homes and prices have actually ticked UP each of the last 8 weeks.

To do any true analysis, you really need to go zip code, by zip code, or suburb by suburb, but to say prices could drop another 20% is flat uninformed and wrong. The reality is, if you are IN THE BUSINESS and look at the data, it is clear, the Real Estate market in our state is improving and we are seeing good transactional volume with strong buyer interest, and the first good Media outlet to get on this story, will prove to be the RIGHT one!!