Hi, I have been looking to buy in the Phoenix area for about a year, and have been watching the prices go down, down, down. Presently I live in NYC, where the prices have been going up, not quite the percentage of the past few years, but still at about 6-8% the last 4 quarters. I am a real estate broker in NYC, so I do have knowledge of the various markets. From everything that I read, and heard, the Phoenix area overbuilt b/c builders/developers thought that the bubble would continue to expand. I think that sellers are presently still trying to recoup much of their profit, and they are just going to have to lower their prices. It is not the time to make that big profit, it's not the time to be greedy.
I read a study that was written recently by an economist at Yale U., it was very interesting. They talked about the price of rentals in relation to home sales. They said that until rentals and sales come in line with each other, that sales will continue to going down nationally. And, they predicted that it will take at least another 3 or so years for this to happen, especially in area like Phoenix, Vegas, etc. - Thu May 29 2008, 22:49