Short supply, rising prices in Phoenix-area housing

Are we actually seeing the start of a housing shortage in the Phoenix area? A new report from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University reveals some surprising information for Maricopa and Pinal counties, as of February:

• Housing supply was down 42 percent from the previous year.
• Foreclosures were down 52 percent from last February.
• Single-family-home prices have been on the rise since September.

Perhaps most notably, the report’s author, Mike Orr, said some Realtors are starting to call around to ask people whether they would consider selling homes in desirable neighborhoods.

“Supply is tight, in a pretty extreme way, and it looks likely to stay that way for months,” said Orr, director of the Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice at the W. P. Carey School of Business.

“The inventory of single-family homes for sale under $250,000 (without a contract already) is less than 25 days of supply. This is highly unusual and signals a market heavily out of balance, with far more buyers than sellers. It’s now becoming a matter of how much of a price increase will get people to start putting their homes back on the market.”