Arizona Real Estate Notebook

Catherine Reagor looks at a score card for the Phoenix residential real estate market.

1) “The number of resales on the market falls below a seven-month supply.”

Nope. Not there yet, however, several zip codes in metro Phoenix have less than 7 months supply.

2) “Home sales need to stop slowing.”

Yep. Sales of resale homes are way up (although about half of them are bank-owned, and sales are still dragging in many areas).

3) “New-home permits must fall.”

No problem there. New-home permits in October were the lowest level in more than 25 years, according to RL Brown’s Phoenix Housing Market Letter.

4) “Mortgage-purchase applications increase.”

I’m not crazy about this point because it can vary a lot from week to week.

5) “Thirty-year mortgage rates drop to 6 percent.”

We’re just under 6 percent.

6) “Affordability must improve dramatically.”

Jackpot! Resale homes have dropped 38% in value from the June 2006 peak according to Case-Shiller numbers.

7) “At least one major home builder goes away.”

No problem there. And expect more to fold.