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September 14, 2007 - 11:13AM
Updated: September 14, 2007 - 4:21PM
Existing home sales slow in August
Misty Williams, Tribune
Sales of existing Valley homes continued to drag in August as tightened lending standards made it tougher for some potential buyers to qualify for financing.
Some 4,240 existing home sales were recorded last month, compared with 4,330 in July and 5,685 in August 2006, a report by Arizona State University’s Realty Studies department shows.
Year-to-date through August, 37,750 existing homes were sold, well below the 47,515 sold during the same period last year and the 78,935 sales in 2005. Also in August, the Valley’s median home price was $255,000, compared with $265,000 in July and last year’s $262,500.
“Everything’s sort of a trade off at the moment,” Realty Studies director Jay Butler said.
Interest rates are low, but lending guidelines are also stricter and the housing market could be impacted by outside forces, such as rising gas prices, Butler said.
There is a lot of uncertainty about the market and the economy, he said.
“They’re increasingly talking about a recession that could result in layoffs of jobs and other things that could result in more foreclosures,” he said.
Still, though the Valley’s market has slowed, current sales are close to pre-housing boom numbers, East Valley real estate agent Jay Thompson said. There’s no question the home sales inventory is huge and the market is starved for buyers, but interest also seems to be picking up, Thompson said.
“It just seems like in the last couple of weeks, our phone has been ringing more. We’re getting more emails,” he said.
Buyers could be starting to realize that the market may be close to bottoming out, Thompson said. They should be in good shape if they plan to stay in their homes for the next three to five years, he said.
“If people have good credit and something to put down, there are some phenomenal deals out there,” he said.
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