MEDIAN HOME VALUE IN SCOTTSDALE PLUMMETS BY ... 1.9%???

According to an article in the Arizona Republic on Saturday (3/15/08), the same publication which has been trumpeting the wholesale demise of Real Estate values in Maricopa County for the past year and a half, the median value of homes that sold in Scottsdale in 2007 showed a 1.9% decline from 2006.

 1.9%???

This is the precipitous value decline that we have been hearing about here in Scottsdale?

The same article goes on to say that the town of Carefree, second only to Paradise Valley in highest median values in Maricopa County, actually saw an increase of 6.7% in the median home value from 2006 to 2007.

With Scottsdale's median home value weighing in at $650,000, this means that the seismic collapse of housing values during 2007 cost the average Scottsdale seller about $13,000.

Considering that many buyers have been scared to the sidelines by the picture that has been painted of the general Real Estate market (as if such a thing exists), I am absolutely staggered to read the acknowledgement that some areas were, and continue to be, much more widely affected than others.  Yes, values across Maricopa County are down, but guess what?  Many of the outlying and less desirable locations are skewing the overall statistics. There are certainly communities where green blood is running in the streets.  Rampant foreclosures, developments abandoned by builders, homeowners stuck with properties they can't sell.  Those areas are placing tremendous downward pressure on the sales statistics for Maricopa County.  When you break locations out individually, though, you will find that many of the historically strong areas have been much less affected by the overall difficulties in the Real Estate market.

So while values in Queen Creek declined by 19%, Fountain Hills by 7.3% (largest median value decline in the Northeast Valley) and Cave Creek by 4.7%, those who have been hunkering down, waiting for values to collapse in Scottsdale, must be quite frustrated at this point.  Surely the buyers who have been waiting to catch the market at the bottom did not wait an entire year to lop off a paltry 1.9%?  Buyers ask me all the time why they should buy now when the media keeps telling them that prices are expected to crash by another 25%. 

My response? 

Not in Scottsdale.

If you are interested in purchasing a home anywhere in the metro Phoenix area, it is crucial to investigate the current trends in each individual community that interests you.  It may not be the best time to purchase a home in Anthem or Maricopa (city), especially if you do not expect a long stay in your new house, but that has little bearing on whether you can confidently purchase a home in an established and sought-after area such as Scottsdale.

Don't hold your breath if you are waiting for Scottsdale prices to crash precipitously.  Market conditions are certainly more favorable to the buyer right now, so there is a window of opportunity to secure a terrific value on a home while interest rates remain microscopic.  Know what else?  The blanket projections you hear for a wholesale "bottoming out" and subsequent "recovery" of the Real Estate market?  Scottsdale will get there first.  By the time the alert goes up that Real Estate is a safe investment again, Scottsdale will have been steadily appreciating for months.

Or you could miss out on another year of homeownership while waiting to see if prices will implode by another percent.

Click here to read the Arizona Republic article by Peter Corbett that inspired this post.

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Paul Slaybaugh with Realty Executives is your source for Scottsdale AZ Real Estate.  A second-generation Realtor and Scottsdale native, Paul has been selling the land that he loves since 1999.