One of the fundamental reasons we’re experiencing health in our local residential real estate market is that we’ve maintained 8 years years of moderate appreciation rates since bottoming out. Not high, not low, but consistent. Affordability is, however, being threatened by appreciation, higher interest rates, and continued low inventory.
The 17 largest cities in the Phoenix area all experienced appreciation over the last year. In fact, we’ve really been appreciating for almost y or 8 years now. Of those 17 cities, only 4 of them appreciated at a slower rate than the year before. This is of course good news for home owners and would-be sellers in our fair valley.
I’m one of the few relics who have experienced wild market gyrations in both California and Arizona for over 40 years. I’ve experienced mega appreciation and mega depreciation. I’ve represented buyers who got 3.5% mortgage rates and 18.5% rates.
We had years where the only viable financing was owner financing with assumable loans. And then there were the years in our not too distant past where borrowers got “fogamirror” loans (if you could breathe and fog a mirror, you were loan approved). We also will not soon forget the era of short sales with its’ plummeting downward market. Of everything I’ve professionally experienced, that was the hardest, especially for the masses of people who lost their homes.
To sum up: The last eight years have been a breath of fresh air and I appreciate our stable real estate market. Few know how blessed we currently have it in the Valley. Perhaps we’re learning that extremes, while they may be exciting in the short term, are usually toxic in the long run. Just sayin.
