In a comment on another post on Valley home sales, Frank gave me a heads up on this article on ASU’s home sale data including foreclosures!
Butler said he agrees that trustee sales should not be lumped in with routine resales and would be reported separately from now on.
The market has changed so rapidly, he said, that the methodology he once relied on for accurate sales data suddenly has become obsolete.
That’s embarrassing for an economist! That cuts into your economisthood.
I have never included foreclosures (trustee deeds) in my data at Arizona Home Sale News or in the 124 zip code Real Estate Notebooks that you see in the right hand column.
Foreclosures aren’t open market transactions so I exclude them from my data. However, when a bank sells a previously foreclosed home, I include those transactions.
I never would have dreamed that Butler included bank foreclosures in his data. It was obviously an oversight.