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March 19, 2008 - 11:00PM
Updated: March 20, 2008 - 12:29AM
Signs of life for new-home sales
Misty Williams, Tribune
Bright spots of renewed homebuyer interest are popping up in new-home subdivisions across the Valley amid talk by some experts that prices are beginning to level off.
GRAPHIC: Valley home sales and permits in February
Read Misty Williams' real estate blog, 'From the Ground Up'
If the market's not bumping along the bottom already, it's close to it, local housing analyst R.L. Brown said.
"We're seeing really tremendous bargains in housing - better than we've seen in this marketplace for perhaps even a decade," said Brown, who closely tracks new-home permits for his market newsletter.
New-home prices have started to stabilize in recent months and return to an affordable level, he said. That's created more buyer opportunities with builders still touting big discounts and offering smaller, less-expensive homes.
The Valley's existing-home market has also seen a steady uptick in buyer activity lately, spurring optimistic talk among real estate agents.
Since the beginning of the year, pending sales of existing homes - deals under contract but not yet closed - jumped from 3,250 in the first week of January to more than 5,000 at the beginning of this month.
Agent Patti Crawford, who works with bank-owned properties, said she's seen more deals go into escrow recently. The discounted homes have especially opened up the door for first-time buyers, she said.
David Walls, president of John Laing Homes' Arizona division, said he's also been encouraged by recent drops in the median existing-home price.
However, the Valley's market is still facing major problems - an oversupply of homes, rising energy costs, worries about layoffs and a faltering national economy.
Walls said he doesn't expect to see a huge spike of activity as people continue to read bad news.
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