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Key indicators from Phoenix's Housing MarketThere are some positive signs coming from metropolitan Phoenix housing market. Foreclosures dropped slightly in September while home prices inched up again. Last month, lenders foreclosed on 3,759 Valley homes, an almost 5 percent drop from August, according to the Information Market. It's the second month in a row foreclosures, or trustee sales, have fallen. Pre-foreclosures also dropped in September, a good sign there will be another decline in foreclosures this month. There were 7,857 pre-foreclosures, or notice of trustee sales, filed by lenders last month. That's an 11 percent drop. There's been a big push by the government and nonprofits for lenders to do more loan modifications, which could be behind the decline in foreclosures. Whatever the reason, at least for now, it means more people keeping their homes. The median price of metro Phoenix home sales climbed to $130,000, according to Mike Orr's Cromfort Repord. The median a month ago was $127,000. Home prices, particularly in many of the Valley's edge communities have been slowly climbing since April, reports Orr, who analyzes Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service data daily. New Valley home prices are up as well. Real estate analyst RL Brown's Phoenix Housing Market Letter reports the median price of a new Valley home is at $197,948, after hitting a recent low of $184,750 in July. However, home building fell after showing some gains in recent months. There were 6964 single-family housing permits issued Valleywide. Home sales overall were down slightly from August but are still well ahead of last's year pace. |