CATHERINE REAGOR

Phoenix housing market is slow, but there are positive signs

Catherine Reagor
The Republic | azcentral.com

Metro Phoenix's housing market continues to slow.

Brittney Hernandez talks with Fulton Homes sales associate Mark Beehler on Aug. 9, 2014, about design ideas for her recent home purchase at Legacy at Freeman Farms in Gilbert. They are standing in a model home that was under construction at the time.

Sales and prices dipped slightly in September, according to the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service's latest Stat report.

- Last month, 6,252 houses sold across the Valley. That's down 3 percent from August and down 2.7 percent from September 2013.

- The median home price dipped to $194,000 from $195,000 in September. The area's median sales price is still up 5 percent from September 2013.

- The forecast from ARMLS' pending-sales index is for the median sales price to fall to $191,000 at the end of October.

However, there are positive signs as well.

- Houses are selling a little faster. The number of days it took for a house to sell fell in September to 84 days from 88 days in August.

- Supply is falling with demand. The number of houses for sale dropped to 23,555 in September, compared with 24,220 in August.

What's particularly interesting is the median price of houses listed for sale during September was $224,800 compared with a median price of $215,000 in August. Could it be that prices will tick up a bit in November?

"There were no surprises in September," said real-estate analyst Tom Ruff of the Information Market, a division of ARMLS.

"Home prices are stable, and anticipated declines in October can be attributed to modest downward pricing pressure as well as seasonal patterns."

Reach the reporter at catherine.reagor@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter @catherinereagor.