Real Estate News 
What's the buzz....? So... Football season is in full swing, Halloween is just around the corner, and finally the temperature has dropped below 100! Pending sales rise for 7th straight month Nationwide, pending home sales rose 6.4 percent from July to August, to the highest level in more than two years. The West saw the strongest growth, with pending home sales up 16 percent from July to August and 22.3 percent from a year ago. "No doubt many first-time buyers are rushing to beat the deadline for the $8,000 (first-time homebuyers) tax credit, which expires at the end of next month," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. 30-year fixed rate below 5% again Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages for borrowers with good credit fell below 5 percent this week for the first time since May, according to Freddie Mac. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.94 percent with an average 0.7 point – down from 5.04 percent last week and 6.1 percent a year ago. The all-time record low 30-year fixed-rate (since records began being kept in 1971) is 4.78 percent – reached in April of this year. Most "rate watchers", however, predict that the days of ultra-low mortgage rates may be coming to an end. Quotables... “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” ~Ronald Reagan
In this edition:
Home Prices Rise for Third Straight Month RISMEDIA, September 30, 2009—(MCT)—The market value of U.S. homes in 20 major cities rose by 1.6% in July compared with June, the third monthly increase in a row, according to the Case-Shiller home price index recently released by Standard & Poor’s. Click here for complete article.
Home Sales Climbed in August Across West THE ASSOCIATED PRESS September 24, 2009 LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Homebuyers scrambling to qualify for a temporary tax credit helped propel home sales in the Western region of the country last month nearly 5 percent higher than a year ago, according to two reports released Thursday. Foreclosures continued to fuel much of the sales surge in the 13-state region, primarily in California, Arizona and Nevada. That helped drag down the region's median home sales price more than 12 percent from August last year to $220,500, according to the National Association of Realtors. Click here for complete article.
Leading Indicators Show Recession ‘Bottoming Out’ RISMEDIA, September 23, 2009—(MCT)—The U.S. recession is bottoming out and a recovery is near, economists for the Conference Board said recently after reporting that the index of leading economic indicators rose 0.6% in August 2009, the fifth straight increase. Click here for complete article.
Foreclosures and Short Sales Complicate a Volatile Real Estate Market September 21, 2009 -- The troubled Phoenix real estate market has experienced high levels of activity this summer. With the federal tax credit ending soon, first-time home buyers have been scrambling to get into a deal. Meantime, investors anticipating a rise in prices are coming back to the market. Much of the activity involves foreclosures and short sales -- transactions that can be complicated and sometimes include a surprise at the end for sellers. Jay Q. Butler, a professor of real estate at the W. P. Carey School of Business, has been tracking this market since the early 1980's. He says the future of the market depends on what happens in the Arizona economy. Click here to listen
Return to Housing Peak is 10 Years Away, Analysts Say RISMEDIA, September 22, 2009—(MCT)—Moody’s Investors Service threw cold water on optimistic projections of a V-shaped recovery in the battered U.S. housing market, predicting it could take more than 10 years to get back to boom-level prices. “For many reasons, the rebound will be disproportionately small compared to the decline,” Moody’s recently said in its latest outlook on the residential market. “It will take more than a decade to completely recover from the 40 percent peak-to-trough decline in national home prices.” Click here for complete article.
Top 12 Tips for Buying an Investment Property RISMEDIA, September 19, 2009—Christine Van Tuyl and Margaret La Grange, an award-winning mother-daughter team with Prudential California Realty in Coronado, have compiled their latest list, the “Top Twelve Tips for Buying an Investment Property.” “Real estate investors aren’t necessarily all-cash buyers with millions in the bank,” said Van Tuyl, Prudential agent. “Normal folks with $50,000 to put down can make solid investments and get positive cash flow.” Click here for complete article.
Phoenix ain't Detroit azcentral.com -- The unemployment rate in the Phoenix metro area is catching up with national norms. Still, its resiliency remains remarkable, given the real estate depression we have experienced and the extent to which it is commonly thought that the local economy is dependent on real estate. There are 26 metro areas in the country with more than two million people (excluding Washington, D.C.). The average unemployment rate among the rest of them is 10.2 percent. The Phoenix metro rate is 8.7 percent. So, most major metro areas have an unemployment rate above the national average of 9.7 percent, while Phoenix is a full percentage point below it. Click here for complete article.
August 2009 Mortgage Rates (from BankRate.com - Arizona)
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Home Prices Rise for Third Straight Month