Well the experts were in town this past week to tell us what 2009 and 2010 hold in store for us in the Real Estate field in Greater Phoenix.  The bottom line is this...expect continued price declines in 2009, with small (maybe 1 percent) price increases returning in 2010, followed by larger increases in the following year (maybe 2 percent!).
     Foreclosures that in 2008 set a record at 40,000 in the valley are expected to continue in 2009.  There is an expected second wave of foreclosures as some ARM's and ALT mortgages reset to higher interest rates and higher monthly costs for the mortgage holders.  As long as the amount of foreclosures remains high, the pricing of existing homes will continue to decline (about 2 percent each month). 
     The December data from the Realtor's MLS system indicated that 56% of the sales that month were Bank Owned properties, a number that has slowly increased each of the previous six months!  The total number of home sales has also declined to a level 66% below 2005 levels.  New home building also continues to decline with only 18,000 new homes built in our area in 2008 and projections for 2009 of only 2,000 new homes.  That would take us to levels not seen since 1992! 
     This outlook is of course based on no additional programs from Washington.