real estate

Slow recovery for Arizona economy and real estate, says Federal Reserve president

“Thing are beginning to look up in Arizona as they are for the nation. Still the Phoenix housing market is nowhere near a return to health.”
The pronouncement came from Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Janet Yellen on Tuesday to a group of the Valley’s leading real estate and banking executives.
“As the housing market collapsed and the nation fell into financial crisis and recession, your desert metropolis was set back on its heels,” she said to the Phoenix chapter of the land economics group Lambda Alpha International. “Just as you (Phoenix) grew faster than the nation as a whole …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Forecast for Phoenix real estate

Here are some key data and predictions from the event “Real Estate: Evolution of an Industry.”
The final tally for home building permits in the Phoenix area this year will be about 8,800, which is down 85 percent from 2005′s peak. But building market is picking back up as the oversupply of speculative-built homes sells.
“Home builders are out of their depression,” said Greg Vogel, chief executive of Scottsdale-based Land Advisors. So far this year, 7,200 home lots ready for construction have sold in the metropolitan Phoenix. About 42 percent of those lots were bought by home builders, and they don’t plan …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Phoenix drags down Mountain West in new economic/real estate report

Phoenix isn’t alone in its economic and real estate pain. The entire Mountain West area is hurting more than any other region of the country, according to a new Brookings Institute study.
The first Mountain Monitor from Brookings was released earlier this week. Unfortunately, it’s another bad economic report card for Phoenix, which is one of 10 metro areas in Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Idaho tracked in the survey.
“Across the (Mountain) region, the deflation of a massive housing bubble, widespread job losses, and the onset of a significant public-sector fiscal crisis have wreaked havoc on many …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Phoenix real estate forecasts in January

It’s time to mark our calendars for Phoenix’s big real estate forecasts in the New Year. Unfortunately, we probably can’t look forward to much good news.
Urban Land Institute Arizona’s 2010 Real Estate Trend Conference is scheduled for Thursday Jan. 21st at the Arizona Biltmore. Peter Linneman, a real estate strategist, is the keynote speaker for the event. Go to arizona.uli.org for more information about the luncheon.
The Phoenix Housing Market Letter, RL Brown’s group, will hold its housing forecast on Jan. 20th. Information is available at www.rlbrownreports.com. …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Well-known Phoenix developer cutting losses, moving to Caribbean

The pioneer developer of loft living in Arizona, Eric Brown is leaving the real estate industry and the country for awhile.
Brown, who founded Phoenix-based Artisan Homes, has purchased a restaurant called Peg Leg Pub on the Caribbean island St. Martin. He’s in the process of moving there with his family.
“I think the market is still bad for developers,” he said. “I just decided I could bleed to death in this market. I will lose $500,000 by leaving now, but if I stayed I would lose $1 million.
Brown developed the Lofts on Osborn and Lofts on Central as well as …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Alphabet soup of recovery theories for Phoenix's housing market

Theories for the housing market’s recovery remind many of alphabet soup – V, W, L and U.
Real Estate analyst RL Brown explains the recovery scenarios behind each letter in the latest Phoenix Housing Market Letter.
V – This is the symbol behind a fast crash and subsequent fast recovery. We already know this won’t be the case. “The V’s were the rose-colored glasses folks,” says Brown.
W – The symbol for a double-dip recession. If this plays out, we are in for another stock market crash, spike in foreclosures and big drop in home prices. “The W’s are the skeptics,” says Brown.
L …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

How Phoenix's housing market fared in 2009

There’s no doubt that 2009 was a horrible year for metropolitan
Phoenix’s real estate market. What most people hope is that it
will be the worst year ever recorded, and 2010 will be better.
Here are some final figures for last year, and not all are as bad
as expected.
There were 7,723 Phoenix-area home sales recorded in December,
according to Mike Orr’s Cromford Report. That’s more than double
the number of home sales from December 2008. Last month’s hearty
sales pace puts the annual total for the area at 92,435, which is
up 50 percent from a year ago and near 2006′s pace.
Foreclosures showed signs of slowing during …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Health care trust spends $107 million on Phoenix-area office buildings

Last week, Arizona’s big real estate deals involved foreclosures on prominent developments under construction – CityNorth in Phoenix and the Centerpoint condominium towers in Tempe.
This week’s big deal is the large cash acquisition of Sun City-area medical office buildings by a Scottsdale-based investor, a transaction that conveys more confidence in the area’s real estate market.
Scottsdale-based Healthcare Trust of America, a real estate investment trust, has paid $107 million in cash for 17 properties in Sun City and Sun City West.
“These assets provide stability and growth potential. We were able to secure this unique opportunity because of our strong …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Former Phoenix real estate executive gets prison for embezzling from Harvard Investments

Douglas Ross Zuber, a former executive of Scottsdale-based Harvard Investments, has been sentenced for embezzling near $11 million from his employer.
On Tuesday, Zuber was sentenced in Maricopa County Superior Court to six years in prison and seven years probation. He has also been ordered to pay Harvard $6.19 million in restitution, according to the Arizona Attorney General.
Zuber worked at Harvard between 1999 and 2006. He was a senior vice president with the real estate company and charged with investing for the firm. Last August, he pled guilty to one count of theft and one count of money laundering, both felonies.
The …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Arizona real estate veteran Pete Bolton to lead Grubb & Ellis' new Phoenix office

Arizona commercial real estate veteran Pete Bolton is back in the brokerage business. He has rejoined Grubb & Ellis to lead its new metropolitan Phoenix office.
Bolton presence has been missed in the market since he left the helm of CB Richard Ellis’s Phoenix office two years ago to run his own consulting and training firm. He started his real estate career in 1980 as an industrial broker in Grubb & Ellis’ Phoenix office, which he then ran in the mid 1990s. Bolton took over the helm of CB Richard Ellis’ Phoenix office in 1999.
“We are basically building a new office,” …

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Posted by CatherineReagor’s Blog

Slow recovery for Arizona economy and real estate, says Federal Reserve president

Forecast for Phoenix real estate

Phoenix drags down Mountain West in new economic/real estate report

Phoenix real estate forecasts in January

Well-known Phoenix developer cutting losses, moving to Caribbean

Alphabet soup of recovery theories for Phoenix's housing market

How Phoenix's housing market fared in 2009

Health care trust spends $107 million on Phoenix-area office buildings

Former Phoenix real estate executive gets prison for embezzling from Harvard Investments

Arizona real estate veteran Pete Bolton to lead Grubb & Ellis' new Phoenix office

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