A friend who lives in Phoenix sent me this snippet from her local business news.

"A new study shows the Phoenix area continues to be one of the hardest-hit housing markets in the nation.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city housing index fell a record 16.3 percent in July from a year earlier, the largest drop since its inception in 2000. Prices in the Phoenix area dove 29 percent on an annual basis. Only Las Vegas, with a 30 percent drop, fared worse than metro Phoenix.

Prices in the 20-city index have plummeted nearly 20 percent since peaking in July 2006. A similar 10-city index has fallen more than 21 percent since its peak in June 2006. Both indices measure the largest metro areas in the country.

For the fourth straight month, no city in the Case-Shiller 20-city index saw annual price gains in July. However, the pace of monthly declines is slowing. Between May and July, for example, home prices fell at a cumulative rate of 2.2 percent - less than half the cumulative rate experienced between February and April.

Just seven cities showed positive or flat returns from June to July. That's down from nine that showed month-over-month gains in June. Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver and Minneapolis all posted positive returns for three months or more."

Could it be that we are about to see prices stabilize? I sure hope so. Having seen prices continue to fall with the huge number of foreclosed properties available it will be great to see a period of stability.

Interest rates are great right now and there are some really superb loan products available for first time home buyers and those with low incomes who have good credit scores.