April home sales numbers in Phoenix bode well for Prescott area sellers

The Wall Street Journal said that ZipRealty reported this week healthy year over year sales increases and signs that prices were leveling off for the Phoenix metro area.

ZipRealty reported that Phoenix led the nation in the change in the number of homes listed for sale at the end of April compared with a month earlier with a drop of almost 15%.

"Banks have sped up the process for getting foreclosed homes on the market, and continue to lower prices to sell them," said Leslie Tyler, vice president and chief home hunter for ZipRealty. "The drop in days on market versus last year highlights that distressed properties in these hard hit markets are starting to move, which is a hopeful sign." "In markets where prices have fallen the most, such as many California cities, Phoenix and Las Vegas, we continue to see strong buyer interest," said Tyler. "The market is being driven right now by first time buyers and investors because of the affordability in these areas."

See WSJ article with additional graphs and more detail

The number of homes listed for sale in many U.S. cities continued to decline in April in what some analysts see as a sign that the market may be nearing a bottom. Other analysts are looking at a new round of foreclosures to hit the market soon and are cautious to say we are at the bottom. I'm personally on the cautious side and expect prices to struggle in some local markets and rise in others depending on the number of foreclosures hitting the market. Prescott should see bottom fairly quickly, while I expect some areas of Prescott Valley and Chino Valley that have high percentages of foreclosures will continue to see price pressure.

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