Arizona Real Estate Notebook

Quotes from Dataquick report, Phoenix Metro Area August Home Sales;

• Those using cash accounted for 41.3 percent of all August home sales, up from 37.6 percent in July and 35.1 percent a year earlier. Last month’s cash buyers paid a median of $95,000, down from $100,000 in July but up from $90,000 in August 2009.
• Many of the homes that investors and first-time buyers purchase are lender repossessions, which have decreased over the past year but remain a large portion of the market. Last month foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – represented 49.7 percent of the resale market, down from 50.5 percent in July and 57.2 percent a year earlier. The peak for foreclosure resales was 66.2 percent in March 2009.
• Meanwhile, on the foreclosure front, lenders foreclosed on 5,669 house and condo units in the two-county Phoenix area last month, down 1.0 percent from July but up 28.3 percent from August 2009.