Home prices in Phoenix area up 20 percent in past 12 months

Home prices are surging in metro Phoenix, climbing 8 percent in March alone and 20 percent in the past 12 months. The median price of a house in the region climbed to $134,900, according to a new report from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. The trend is projected to continue throughout the year, although at a slower pace. Mike Orr, director of the Center for Real Estate Theory at ASU, doesn’t expect home prices to continue to climb as fast as they did in March over the next few months. But he projects metro Phoenix’s housing appreciation for 2012 to reach 25 percent by September. Orr credits the turnaround to steep drops in foreclosures and in the number of homes for sale, coupled with an increase in sales. Fewer foreclosures means fewer inexpensive homes for buyers. The number of homes taken back by lenders in metro Phoenix is down 60 percent from March 2011. Housing inventory has dropped steadily during the past year because of a record number of investors snapping up properties out of foreclosure. Home sales are up 35 percent from a year ago as more regular buyers have joined investors in the mix.

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