Arizona Real Estate Notebook

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As for Arizona, in December, the unemployment rate remained at 8.7% compared to 8.5% nationally. The level of jobs in the state now stands 37,500 above a year ago (December). Greater Phoenix has created 28,600 jobs over the same period. While these numbers are weak by historic standards, they are a significant improvement over results from 2007 through 2010. Arizona retail sales were up 5.7% for the first 11 months of 2011 compared to the similar 2010 period. Maricopa retail sales were up 4.4% over the same period. According to R.L. Brown, December permits were 492 versus 383 a year ago. This brings the total for 2011 to 6,792 permits, or a 0.4% decline from 2010. 2011 should represent the bottom of the market for permits.