Arizona Foreclosure Homes Sales Still Doing Good
September 16th, 2009 by 
Joseph Smith
Sales of Arizona foreclosure homes continue to rise in the metropolitan area of Phoenix and Lake Hasavu City.
In Phoenix, home sales this year exceeded the numbers reported last year. But foreclosure houses still accounted for most of property sales. A recent market report showed that one in every two home sales was a foreclosure last month.
Industry analysts said that the housing market recovery in the city, as well as statewide, will not be achieved until the foreclosure rate drops to manageable level, which is pegged at one foreclosure per 20 regular home sales.
In August 2008, 3,100 foreclosure houses were reported out of the 6,000 total homes resold. The figures represented a decline from the 7,300 resale deals and 4,200 foreclosures sales reported in July.
But the numbers were higher compared with 4,200 resale deals and 3,300 foreclosure sales in Phoenix last month.
Meanwhile, in Lake Havasu City, Arizona foreclosure homes continue to dominate the home sales in the area. Year-to-date figures showed an increasing trend in home sales, led by Arizona foreclosure homes.
According to market data, over 1,070 single family homes were sold in the city, surpassing the total home sales in August last year by over 250 properties.
A month to month improvement in home sales was seen this year. Last month, 125 houses were sold in the city compared with 95 for the same month last year.
The increasing number of home sales in the city gave hope to industry experts that the market is starting to stabilize.
Foreclosure houses accounted for more than 50 percent of the total home sales. Out of the 125 homes sold last month, 67 were foreclosures with prices ranging from $130,000 to as much as $167,000.
Also last month, 121 active foreclosures were on the market and 99 were pending. Meanwhile, 88 houses were in some kind of foreclosure process in Kingman and 92 in Bullhead City.
Industry experts noted that many banks still lagged behind in short sales. In August, only 18 short sales were reported in Lake Havasu City, 8 in Bullhead City and 4 in Kingman totaling to 30 out of nearly 342 properties sold in Mohave County.
Experts said that there are still many properties going into foreclosure because banks are lacking in their efforts to help homeowners save their properties from repossession.
