Arizona Average Home Price now a Quarter Million Dollars

It's hard to believe that the average median home price in Arizona has risen by 43% to a cool quarter million dollars. This is starting to price a lot of buyers out of the market. There also doesn't seem to be any slowing to how fast the home prices are rising. Investors are bidding the prices out of control. As explained in this Arizona Republic Article.

The record-setting resale housing market in metropolitan Phoenix hit another milestone last month when the price of a typical home rose to nearly $250,000. The actual median sales price was $249,900 in June. That's nearly a 43 percent increase from the median of $175,000 in the same month last year. Even with mortgage rates staying relatively low, Valley homes are becoming less affordable for typical buyers, Butler said. He said the resale affordability index was 86 in the second quarter of this year. A reading of 100 means that a household with the area's median income can afford a house at the current median price financed at prevailing mortgage rates. The index has taken a large swing downward since it hovered at 112 last year. There were 11,545 existing homes sold last month, below the record 11,665 set in June last year. Year-to-date, 58,035 existing homes changed hands, up from 48,220 at the same time a year earlier. A strong economy, job growth and housing investors are helping drive a market that also gets momentum from entry and move-up buyers not intimidated by rising prices.