Stabilizing Market

Valley new home market shows signs of stabilizing, from The East Valley Tribune, reports that following a year of slumping sales, the Valley's new home market is expected to stabilize in 2007 as builders continue to get rid of excess inventory. "2006 activity will cause the industry to pause and recognize that housing in this market area has to be affordable," said RL Brown, publisher of the Phoenix Housing Market Letter. The dramatic run up in prices during last year's housing frenzy was not sustainable, he said. Home sellers will need to price homes according to today's market or withdraw their listings. Builders must be more realistic if they plan on staying in business, Brown added. The median price of a new home in the Valley was $285,000 in December, down 5 percent from December 2005 but up 8.5 percent from January 2006. Prices should begin to stabilize to a more traditional 4 percent to 5 percent rate of appreciation, he said, adding that new home permits should be in the low 40,000's.

Valley new home market shows signs of stabilizing
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=83184

The Shannon Team is growing!

Even though many realtor's business have fallen off over the past year, The Shannon Team continues to grow. We've added four new, experienced buyer's agents to our staff. They are Nathan Mitchell, CJ & Cortney Goos, and Nancy Wilson. Cortney will pull double duty along with Hunter Clark representing sellers as well as buyers.

In addition to adding agents, we've also hired our first Customer Care Manager, Ashely Conover. Ashley primary function will be to be the first point of contact with potential clients that come to us via websites, phone calls, emails, and all other media campaigns.

We are now positioned to take our business to the next level and offer our clients the highest level of service possible.

Better days are forecast, but at a cost

Better days are forecast, but at a cost, from The Arizona Republic, reports that housing analyst RL Brown told a crowd of about 1,300 that Phoenix's new home market will get better after this year, but only if builders get serious about reducing spec-home inventory and prices and making a bigger commitment to service. Brown estimated that as many as 25,000 unsold spec homes are sitting on the market, the result of buyers backing out of deals when they couldn't sell their existing homes. Brown reported that the Valley finished 2006 with a building permit total of 42,460, down from the over 60,000 permits pulled in 2005. Brown expects permits to total 41,000 this year and 48,000 in 2008. They expect the market to hit 47,000 permits in 2009 and 50,000 in both 2010 and 2011. Even with the reduced building, Brown expects that Valley will continue to be one of the country's top housing markets.

Better days are forecast, but at a cost
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