After years of disappointing performance, there are real signs of life in the Arizona real estate market.
New figures Tuesday from the Federal Housing Finance Agency show that Arizona home prices overall rose 6.8 percent in the past year. When the agency adds in home values, as measured by refinancings, that figure hits 7.0 percent.
The average price that Arizona homes are selling for is back to where it was in 2008, though still about 17 percent below the peak two years earlier. But economist Mike Orr of Arizona State University said he sees the current numbers as normal.
"Tere's no reason why this market should go back to the peak of 2006," said Orr. "Those were unreasonably high. And with inflation negligible at the moment, I think housing has no particular reason to go any higher than it is except the imbalance of supply and demand."
Orr said supply and demand may make it a good time to actually have a house with an eye on making money.
"I'd rather be invested in real estate right now, mainly because we've underbuilt for so long. And that means we're not going to end up with a surplus any time soon, like we've got with oil and gas and copper and lots of other commodities," said Orr.
The picture is hardly the same throughout the state. The market is hot in Mohave County where the federal agency said home values are up close to 10.6 percent in the past year.
At the other extreme is Cochise County, losing population because of cutbacks in defense spending, where home values are down this past year 2.5 percent.