By Catherine Reagor, Matthew Dempsey and Ryan Konig |The Republic | azcentral.com
It’s all blue skies and sunshine in the housing market this year.
Homeowners have seen their property values soar. Because investors have pulled back on purchases after pushing up prices last year, more regular homebuyers finally are able to unload their moving trucks.
Mercifully for regular sellers and buyers, the market has calmed, giving off a less frenzied vibe than in the 2004-06 boom, the five years of the crash and during the early recovery that began in 2012. Now, more houses are for sale to meet the demand of prospetive buyers and interest rates are low. To top off the sunny picture, houses are still affordable.
The Valley’s median sales price has climbed 30 percent so far this year, and values are up in every neighborhood across metro Phoenix in 2013, according to The Arizona Republic’s latest Valley Home Values report.
Most areas have experienced double-digit increases in home prices so far this year, and a few parts of the region have seen values return to boom levels. Many areas of the Valley with the most affordable houses continue to see the biggest percentage increases, according to The Republic’s analysis of sales information provided by real-estate-data firm Information Market.
