There were many housing headlines in the last week – all related to national home sales and not Flagstaff homes. When you hear or read housing headlines on the national news, always remember that all real estate is local. The national housing statistics mean more for interpreting the overall economy – which is improving – than they do for any local home sales market.
Here’s a rundown of what you may have heard in the last week with Flagstaff related highlights:
The Pending Home Sales Index, tracked and reported by the National Association of Realtors,® ticked up in July as compared with June – but was nearly 20% below a year ago. This bodes ill for actual home sales statistics in the coming months, but NAR is hoping the trend is up as home affordability is amazingly low in light of record low home loan rates.
The Case-Shiller-Standard & Poor’s home price report (Wall Street’s favorite index) showed home prices up for June. Prices rose in 17 of the 20 major metropolitan areas tracked by this index. Two of the housing markets most relevant to Flagstaff, however, were among the three that did not see price increases. Phoenix prices were flat in June. Las Vegas declined. The Case-Shiller index is based on repeat sales of the same properties, which is one reason it’s only done in large metro areas. In delivering this report, MarketWatch.com quoted economists with a bleak outlook for the coming months, including a prediction of prices dropping in August.
Arizona State University Professor Karl Guntermann said this week that small improvements seen in the past year and a half in Phoenix-area home prices won't continue, according to the Arizona Daily Sun. He doesn’t expect big drops as we’ve seen, but rather that prices will continue where they are for the foreseeable future.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency's seasonally-adjusted purchase-only house price index rose in the quarter ending June 30 for the first time since the second quarter of 2007. This housing index is based only on homes purchased with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgages – but that’s certainly the bulk of the financings at this time. Flagstaff home prices dropped over 13% in this index over the last year, while Arizona as a whole had prices drop just over 8%. Last Sunday, the Arizona Daily Sun posted a good article on this data written by Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services.
The consensus of economists and housing experts seems to be that the home prices increases posted in June or for the second quarter were a temporary blip caused by the homebuyer tax credit. Right now, there are some great deals out there in Flagstaff homes – and interest rates are at record lows. If you’re ready to step into the Flagstaff homes market, give me a call! | 
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