Arizona Real Estate Notebook

Dr. Jay Butler of Realty Studies at Arizona State University came out with his Phoenix area residential real estate sales and median price numbers for April 2010.

Greater Phoenix – Median Home Price

(Single-family resale homes. Excludes repossessions but includes sales by banks after they repossess. ASU calls these “Traditional Sales”)

April 2010: $144,000
April 2009: $125,000

The median home price in Marcopa County bottomed out in April 2009 at $125,000 and has risen 15% since then to $144,000 in April 2010.

Greater Phoenix – Number of Homes Sold

(Single-family resale homes. Excludes repossessions but includes sales by banks after they repossess. ASU calls these “Traditional Sales”)

April 2010: 6,765
April 2009: 6,640

The number of homes sold in metro Phoenix in April increased 2% over a very strong April 2009.

NOTE: Dr. Butler’s ASU data measures median home price. He doesn’t measure home price appreciation directly, although the median price follows appreciation very closely. Case-Shiller data, however, directly measures home price appreciation and depreciation. Dr. Guntermann at ASU uses the same technique as Case-Shiller but Dr. Guntermann breaks down the data further to look at appreciation in the major cities within metro Phoenix as well as metro Phoenix as a whole. Case-Shiller and Guntermann release their numbers 2 months after the end of a month while Butler releases his numbers 2 weeks after the end of a month.