Home
prices, sales in flux
Area
Realtors say real estate is still a good investment
by
Kathleen Stinson
DESERT
FOOTHILLS – Local real estate is still a good investment
even though the selling prices are not as going up as
fast as they did in 2005 before the so‑called bubble
burst, according to some local real estate agents.
Home
prices hit an all‑time high last year, increasing
by 52 percent Valley‑wide before the market leveled
off in 2006, said Vicki Jonovich, owner of Jonovich and
Associates Realty, Cave Creek.
The
price increase was due to a combination of factors, said
Karen Creviston, a real estate agent with the Equitable
Real Estate Co., of Carefree and Cave Creek.
Historically low interest rates, substantial participation
by investor‑buyers, and the Valley’s job and population
growth fueled the price increases, Creviston said.
Thus
far this year, Desert Foothills home prices have declined
by about 10 to 15 percent, Creviston
said.
Anthem
in particular has experienced the sharpest price decline locally and it takes longer these
days to sell a home there, Creviston said. Where properties
are priced “properly,” they are moving. But buyers are
unwilling to pay last year’s prices, Creviston pointed
out.
“We’re
returning to normal –
last year was quite an anomaly – you can’t expect the
prices to increase (indefinitely),” said Denise Brandon,
agent for ERA Encore Realty in Anthem. “It’s (home prices)
been compared to a jet plane coming down for an easy landing.”
According
to Jonovich, “We’re still way ahead of the 2003 prices.
We’re just (trending) back to where we should have been.”
Some
local home prices are on the increase again, Jonovich
said.
