Housing prices up in most NE Valley communities

Scottsdale's housing market is showing improvement with median home prices up 13 percent in June over last year and a drop in investor flips, short sales and pre-foreclosure deals.

Prices were up year-over-year in five of the six Northeast Valley communities with increases ranging from 18.7 percent in Cave Creek on 87 sales to 39 percent in Paradise Valley on 42 sales, according to the latest monthly report from the Arizona State University Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice.

Fountain Hills showed an 11 percent dip in median price to $320,000 on 58 sales.

It has not helped that the number of short sales and pre-foreclosures in the town doubled to 12 in June and investor flips doubled to four.

Scottsdale reported 85 short sales and pre-foreclosures in June, a 13 percent decline. That runs counter to the greater Phoenix market that saw distressed sales up 8 percent.

Scottsdale also showed a steep decline in bank-owned homes from 79 last June to 31 this year, according to the report with data compiled by the Information Market LLC of Glendale.

"The continued imbalance between high demand and low supply remains the main story for the greater Phoenix residential market," the report said. "After a strong move upward during the spring, prices remained relatively flat during June, as predicted last month. We expect to report something similar next month."

The number of home sales in Scottsdale dipped 12 percent in June to 561 deals.

Scottsdale's price per square foot for homes was $183.13, up 6.5 percent, and significantly higher than the overall market average of $98.11.

The condominium and townhouse median price of $90,000 in the overall market was up 32 percent from a year ago.

Scottsdale's median price for condos of $142,000 on 281 sales was up 13.6 percent.

Office deal completed

Scottsdale has completed the purchase of a $1.87 million office-warehouse building in the Scottsdale Airpark.

The nearly 18,000-square-foot building northeast of Greenway-Hayden Loop and Scottsdale Road will be used for the Scottsdale Police Department Investigative Service Bureau.

The bureau currently operates in a leased 13,000-square-foot facility at an annual cost of $430,000. That lease expires in April 2013.

The Scottsdale City Council approved the purchase of the police building in early July and the deal was finalized a few weeks later. The seller was James Dobbs III.

The city has declined to identify the location of the new building. The Arizona Republic confirmed the building's location based on Maricopa County property records.

Built in 1995, the property includes warehouse space and second-floor offices.

The sale price of $104.90 per square foot is within the range of other office-warehouse buildings that have sold recently in the Airpark, according to commercial real-estate brokers.

Scottsdale-area home prices

Median home prices in June increased from last year in five of six Northeast Valley communities, according to the latest monthly report from the Arizona State University Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice. Here are the number of sales, median price and percentage change since last June:

Scottsdale -- 561, $391,000, up 13.3 percent.

Cave Creek -- 87, $355,000, up 18.7 percent.

Fountain Hills -- 58, $320,000, down 11 percent.

Paradise Valley -- 42, $1,325,000, up 39 percent.

Rio Verde -- 11, $550,000, up 31.4 percent.

Carefree -- 7, 701,000, up 23.6 percent.

Source: Arizona State University W.P. Carey School of Business.

by azcentral.com Aug 16, 2012


Housing prices up in most NE Valley communities