Phoenix-Area Home Values Climb After 2011 Dip

Source:  The Republic | azcentral.com
Article by Catherine Reagor 
Feb 21, 2013 

Most metro Phoenix homeowners will see the first increase in their property’s assessed value since 2007 when they receive their annual statement from the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office.
The median value of a house in metro Phoenix climbed almost 16percent during 2012 after falling 7.6percent in 2011.

The increase won’t surprise anyone who has watched the region’s housing market recover over the past 18 months. However, the overall increase in values for Maricopa County might be confusing because the overall median price of the area’s home sales climbed 34 percent in 2012.

“Our analysis is based on both home sales and the valuations of the even greater number of houses that didn’t sell last year,” County Assessor Keith Russell said. “If a house doesn’t sell, we don’t know if it has new carpet or plumbing, but we must still do the research to assess its value.”

The overall median value of single-family houses in the county climbed to $127,000 in 2012 from $109,600 in 2011.

Statements will be mailed to Maricopa County residents over the next two weeks, with the first group expected to receive their statements as early as today. About 1.5 million properties were valued by the county assessor during 2012.

In 2010, Maricopa County home values fell 11 percent. In 2009, property values dropped 15 percent. In 2008, they plummeted 23 percent, the biggest drop of the prolonged retreat in home values. In 2007, values declined 13 percent.

The property-valuation assessments being mailed out now will be reflected in 2014 tax bills. This year’s tax bills will reflect 2011 valuations.

Despite the drop in home values in 2011, homeowners shouldn’t count on a significant drop in taxes this fall. Many Valley municipalities and school districts still face budget gaps and could raise property-tax rates again this year.

Russell said the county’s residential assessments are conservative, so homeowners can expect to sell their houses for as much as 10 percent more.

Some Phoenix-area cities fared better than others. Home values climbed the highest — 34 percent — in El Mirage and Youngtown. Tolleson homeowners saw a median increase of 33 percent. Those communities experienced some of the biggest drops in home values during the crash because of higher foreclosure rates.

Property owners can appeal valuations with the Assessor’s Office until April 23.  To appeal the 2012 assessment, go to maricopa.gov/ assessor or call 602-506-3406.

A house’s value has to decline significantly through a reassessment to lower its property taxes, which fund municipalities, school districts and more. Tax bills cannot be appealed.

Latest Market Stats for Paradise Valley and Scottsdale

The latest market stats for PV and Scottsdale have been posted at my website.  These are current through January 2013.  Contact me if you would like stats for any other Metro Phoenix city or zip code.

• Paradise Valley Stats
• Scottsdale Stats

It's Time to Fertilize Your Citrus Trees

The big freeze is behind us and we're all getting the urge to trim back our dead plants and shrubs, plant some new flowers and vegetables, and revitalize our citrus trees.  Is now the time to start?  Assuming that we won't have another extended period of freezing nights, it's time to at least start thinking about it...

There's lots of great information to be found out there for both new homeowners who are just trying to figure it all out and seasoned veterans of low desert plant care.   

An excellent resource for general planting information is http://www.gardeninginarizona.com.   

Below are some additional great links to information about fertilizing citrus here in the low desert.  

• http://www.gilbertaz.gov/water/popups/citrus.cfm
• http://www.azcitrus.com/
• http://www.gardenguides.com/79292-fertilize-citrus-trees-arizona.html

One tried and true source for great information is the The University of Arizona/Cooperative Extension Service/Maricopa County.  Below are their guidelines for fertilizing citrus and for planting vegetables in the desert.

After checking these resources for planting and fertilizing information, you can hit your favorite nursery or big box store...  but, resist temptation and hold off trimming the dead plants for a little while longer. 

  

House Prices: When Will 2006 Values Return?

Courtesy of Keeping Current Matters/The KCM Blog
Posted: 11 Feb 2013


There is a lot of optimism regarding house prices. The most recent Home Price Expectation Survey projects a 3% -3.5% increase in values for each of the next 5 years. We concur that most parts of the country will see varying levels of appreciation over that time. However, we must realize that we will not see 2006 values any time soon.
 
Barclays’ U.S. residential credit strategy team recently predicted that 2006 values would return in 2021. From an article in DSNews:

“While the floor appears to have materialized, they stress that home prices are likely to recover slowly over the next 4 to 5 years.
“We expect on average a 3-4 percent annual increase in home prices [nationally] in coming years,” they said in an updated market outlook.
At that rate, Barclays’ analysts explained, home prices will be slightly below their 2006 peaks even in 2020, finally returning to pre-crisis peak levels in June 2021.

In an article for CNNMoney, the analytics firm Fiserv projected that 2006 prices would not return until 2023:

“Fiserv forecasts prices will bounce back an average of 3.7% a year for the next five years — a rate that would still leave prices 20% below the peak. At that forecasted growth rate, the national average high of $238,000 would not be hit again until 2023.”

If you are waiting for 2006 values to return before selling your house, realize it will take years.

Phoenix Area Home Prices Rise 34% in 2012

By Catherine Reagor  

The Republic | azcentral.com Thu Feb 7, 2013 

 

The median price of a metro Phoenix home climbed 34 percent in 2012. The rapid rise in home prices over the past 12 months means that many homeowners have regained more than one-half of the value their houses lost during the crash.

At the end of last year, the region’s median home price was $164,000, compared with $122,500 the year before.

Home prices climbed last year for two key reasons: Homes resold by lenders typically sell for lower prices, and foreclosures plummeted 51 percent in 2012 compared with 2011. Also, the supply of houses on the market fell 6 percent, according to a report released Thursday by Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School of Business.

“Foreclosures and short sales have gone down, eliminating the sources of many cheap homes, so the more expensive types of transactions, like normal resales and new-home sales, went up,” said Mike Orr, director of the Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice at ASU.

Fewer houses on the market also translated to a 12 percent decline in home sales for the year. Approximately 8,000 houses changed hands in metro Phoenix during 2012.

Orr said the number of homes on the market started to climb late in the year, but prospective buyers appear more reluctant.

“We still see multiple bids for many resale listings, but demand isn’t as strong as it was in spring 2012,” Orr said.

Investor home purchases in the Phoenix area began to decline in the fall, Orr said. Overall, about 36 percent of all home sales were cash deals last year. Early in 2012, cash deals made up more than 50 percent of all transactions.