I just added an interactive chart of the real (inflation-adjusted) Case-Shiller Home Price Index for 20 cities including, of course, Phoenix.
The Story of Us
To me, that graph tells an absolutely amazing story of greed, fear and the utter failure of a market system.
What I remember the most is the tremendous pain it caused so many people who lost their homes and sometimes their life savings too.
Now, all that’s in the past and it will stay in the past for the next few years until people forget the pain and slowly, slowly remove the few safeguards put in place after the last bust and we begin another boom cycle.
Real Phoenix home prices have been flat for over 12 months and will probably remain flat or with slight real appreciation for the foreseeable future.
A boring real estate market is a good real estate market but there’s no money in boring. Eventually, the promoters saying, “This time is different” will take over the public imagination again and so it begins.
But right now – thank goodness – we’ve already paid the price for past excesses and we have a stable real estate market in Phoenix.