Phoenix housing market still digging out of deep hole

The good news is that Phoenix home prices were up 6.1 percent in March compared with March 2011, according to the new S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. The bad news is that Phoenix prices are still off 53 percent from the housing market’s peak in May 2006, according to the same index. Case-Shiller’s March index for Phoenix was 106.38, up 2.2 percent from February. But Phoenix home values are still digging themselves out of a big hole from the market slide. The Valley’s Case-Shiller index peaked in May 2006 with a score of 228.17. The score hit bottom in October 2011 with a score of 98.99 -- a 57 percent drop. The March numbers are up 7 percent since that 2011 basement, but still have a tough slog. The short-term numbers are more optimistic. For March, Phoenix had the best month-over-month and year-over-year gains among major U.S. markets.

Click here to view this article from its source.