While single-family housing permits are expected to slip this year, the multifamily market and commercial construction market are expected to finish strong. According to the second-quarter “Blue Chip Economic Forecast,” single-family housing permits will tumble 13 percent this year. The forecast is a publication of the
All the major commercial real estate brokerage firms are releasing their second-quarter statistics. Despite prevalent upbeat reports about Phoenix’s real estate market, one statistic gives cause for concern: Vacancies are up dramatically in the suburban office market. According to the second-quarter “Korpacz Real Estate Investor Survey” released by PricewaterhouseCoopers, “suburban Phoenix recorded a vacancy increase of 210 basis points from year-end 2006 (12.2 percent) to the first quarter of 2007 (14.3 percent), the highest quarterly increase of any U.S. suburban office market during that period.” More…
A Phoenix-based developer has broken ground a $100 million mixed-use project in
Buckeye and Goodyear are grappling with which municipality should be responsible for planning 2,554 acres south of the
A developer hopes to fill the downtown Phoenix skyline with three new apartment towers. Mercury Development, based in central
Valley architect Will Bruder has reached back into a lost chapter of Scottsdale history for a 10-unit townhouse complex southeast of
One of the Valley’s top housing analysts lowered his projection for the area’s new-home market for this year on Tuesday, saying that such stubborn problems as an oversupply of houses and turmoil in the mortgage business will delay the recovery. RL Brown, publisher of the Phoenix Housing Market Letter, said he expected Phoenix-area builders to pull 34,000 building permits this year, down from his forecast of 41,000 issued in January. There were 42,460 permits issued in the Valley last year as the housing frenzy of 2004 and 2005 diminished and the market began to stagnate. More…
Regulators are trying to shut down a Phoenix mortgage firm they have accused of securing loans from illegal branches at Valley swap meets, malls, carnicerias, a Wal-Mart, a Home Depot and a couple of Food City stores. The Arizona Department of Financial Institutions has filed a complaint against Pacific Gold Mortgage Group and its owner, Alejandro Assam. More…
In Scottsdale, one of the most affluent cities in
A growing number of homeowners behind on their mortgage and facing foreclosure are finding a way to sell despite the glut of Valley homes for sale. They are turning to “short sales,” which are similar to regular home sales except a deal is worked out in which the lender accepts what the house is appraised for or what it will currently sell for instead of what is owed on it. So a homeowner would sell the house to a buyer willing to pay the current market value of the home, and the lender takes a loss on the rest. More…
Many Americans still don’t have a good grasp of what credit scoring is all about and fail to recognize ways to improve their grades. And a notable revision to the scoring system starting later this year might not help. Credit scoring is a statistical tool that allows all sorts of merchants and lenders to make a quick analysis of your ability to repay a loan or live up to other financial commitments. Credit scores are used by auto dealers, mortgage lenders, insurance companies, utilities and many other entities. More…