Home Prices continue to rise in metro Phoenix, according to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Index.

Valley home prices gained 6.2% between April 2018 and April 2019, the report said.  That's still significantly higher that the 3.6% average home price growth across the country, and was about the same reported for Phoenix in March.

Mortgage rates are significantly lower than they were at the end of last year.  Mortgage rates for a 30 year fixed rate last November were close to 5%.  Today, rates are at a two year low averaging 3.99% for a 30 year fixed rate.

Between April of this year and April 2020, home prices nationwide are expected to increase at a projected gain of 4.7%, the CoreLogic report said.

Population Growth

These two Arizona cities are the fastest growing in the US, according to population estimates released by the U.S Census Bureau.

Buckeye's population saw the largest percentage growth of any city in the country, growing in size by 8.5% between July 1, 2017 and July 1, 2018.

Phoenix saw the largest numeric increase during this time frame. adding 25,288 people for a total population of 1,660,272.

This is the third year in a row that more people moved to Phoenix than any other city in the country.

The Census Bureau announced in April that Maricopa County was the fastest growing county in the country for the third year in a row.

Jobs

What may come to some as a surprise is the nature of our job market and unexpected areas that have shown increases.  Prior to the recession, most job opportunities came from real estate, retail sales and construction.  But now, financial and business services, as well as healthcare and manufacturing, are meeting, if not outpacing, the industries previously mentioned.  Additionally, Phoenix, dubbed by some as "Wall Street West," is ranked #3 on the list of cities with the highest number of workers in the financial services industry.

More people moved to Maricopa County than any other county in the nation last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

This is the third year in na row that the county led in growth.

The County added 81,244 people between July 2017 and July 2018. That's up from 74,000 people during the same period the year before. 

This growth helped the County maintain its rank as the forth most populous county in the country with 4,410,824 residents.The Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale was the second highest among metropolitan areas in numeric growth.

Rising Home Prices May Slow

Valley home prices are expected to climb at a slower pace or flatten out during the coming year.

Housing market watchers including Realtor.com expect Phoenix home prices to climb between 4 and 6 percent this year.

This forecast is based on pending sales, population projections and recent job growth numbers.

That compares to the 6 to 8 percent annual home price increases during the past few years,

Worried about a bubble?

Home prices reached a medium price of $268,000 last summer, than dropping to $262,000 last fall. That said, if inflation is taken into consideration, home values are more than 10 percent below the 2006 boom level.

Tina Tamboer, senior housing analyst with the Cromford Report said " nothing in the current data shows a market crash coming for Phoenix."

There is some good news for buyers in that there are 4.2% more listings than one year ago, however, that only provides approximately 3.2 months of inventory, well below normal averages.

                                             September 25 Statistics

                                            Phoenix Metropolitan Area

Total Active Residential Listings                                                       13,726

                                                                                                           17,057 (with ICB included)

Average Market Time                                                                        61 days

Compared to last year at this time                                                   65 days

List Price vs. sales price                                                                    97.9% days

Compared to last year                                                                       97.7% days

 Number of sales YTD                                                                         64,011

Average Sales Price                                                                            $329,945

Compared to last year                                                                        $305,513

Overall appreciation or depreciation                                                     7.9%