Dr. Jay Butler of Realty Studies at Arizona State University came out with his Phoenix area residential real estate sales and median price numbers for April 2010.
Greater Phoenix – Median Home Price
(Single-family resale homes. Excludes repossessions but includes sales by banks after they repossess. ASU calls these “Traditional Sales”)
April 2010: $144,000
April 2009: $125,000
The median home price in Marcopa County bottomed out in April 2009 at $125,000 and has risen 15% since then to $144,000 in April 2010.
Greater Phoenix – Number of Homes Sold
(Single-family resale homes. Excludes repossessions but includes sales by banks after they repossess. ASU calls these “Traditional Sales”)
April 2010: 6,765
April 2009: 6,640
The number of homes sold in metro Phoenix in April increased 2% over a very strong April 2009.
NOTE: Dr. Butler’s ASU data measures median home price. He doesn’t measure home price appreciation directly, although the median price follows appreciation very closely. Case-Shiller data, however, directly measures home price appreciation and depreciation. Dr. Guntermann at ASU uses the same technique as Case-Shiller but Dr. Guntermann breaks down the data further to look at appreciation in the major cities within metro Phoenix as well as metro Phoenix as a whole. Case-Shiller and Guntermann release their numbers 2 months after the end of a month while Butler releases his numbers 2 weeks after the end of a month.