West Valley home resales pick up

The West Valley may have seen the worst of the housing collapse, but one industry expert cautioned Wednesday that "we still have a ways to go."

"We're optimistic that we have reached a bottom. We're starting to see an uptick with regards to the marketplaces in Sun City (and) the West Valley," said Roger Nelson, CEO of West Maricopa Regional Association of Realtors.

Nelson's comments came on the heels of a national housing barometer showing existing home sales in April saw the largest monthly jump in eight years as buyers took advantage of low prices and record low mortgage interest rates.

"I think we still have a ways to go with cleaning out the underside of the market, but we're starting to see all the indications that the market is getting better," Nelson said.

Other West Valley real estate agents tended to agree with Nelson's analysis of the local housing market.

"It's starting to pick up," said Mike Mazy, a Realtor with Award Realty in Sun City. "Property values are still a little lower than last year, but it's changing now."

And then like Nelson, he cautioned: "But it's not going to be overnight."

Gene Reppy, who works for Ken Meade Realty, said sales for the first quarter of the year were down some 20 percent compared to last year.

"Last month, however, we had a great month, and it seems like we could possibly be on the mend a little bit," Reppy said.

The National Association of Realtors' Pending Home Sales Index rose 6.7 percent to 90.3, up from 84.6 in March and 87.5 in April 2008. It was the third straight monthly increase and the largest jump since October 2001.

In the West, the index rose 1.8 to 94.8, up from 93.1 in March. However, it was 2.9 percent below April 2008.

"We are seeing that the desert Southwest is seeing a pretty strong gain, while other parts of the West, specifically the Pacific Northwest, are actually seeing some softness," said Walt Molony, association spokesman. "So it's definitely been Arizona, Nevada and Southern California that have been pulling up the western region."

The Pending Home Sales Index monitors existing home sales and is based on a national sample representing about 20 percent of transactions.

Nelson said home prices have increased in the West Valley and especially in Sun City, which saw about a 10 percent increase from March to April of this year. Also beneficial to the market is fewer homes are listed than the same time last year, he said.

"We see it all across the West Valley where active listings are dropping. We anticipate that we'll see some price increases as demand increases," he said.

"Specifically in Sun City we've seen pretty significant uptake in sales. We know that more homes are being sold. I think that tells us that we're getting more to a normal marketplace."

Mazy said the retirement communities in the West Valley did not suffer from as many foreclosures as other cities.

Mazy blamed the housing market collapse on unrealistic home values in 2005 coupled with improper lending from financial institutions.

"Would you give out a loan for something for 125 percent of what it's worth," he said. "You can't do that."

"The acceleration of property values in 2005 was unreal. Property values are now stabilizing and probably by end of year (we're) going to see it stabilize."