PRESCOTT ARIZONA REAL ESTATE – Foreclosures

By Jason Soifer The Daily Courier

PRESCOTT – Foreclosures continue to play a prominent role in the local housing market.

New data from RealtyTrac shows the number of properties going back to lenders rose from the fourth quarter of 2009 over the first quarter of this year.

Daren Blomquist, marketing communications manager for the home data aggregator, said late Wednesday afternoon that he anticipates the flow of foreclosures in Arizona to continue through the end of this year.

“In general, the numbers are going to stay high,” he said. “We still have some pain to work through before we get through this cycle.”

Blomquist said 714 properties fell back into bank ownership through the first three months of the year, an increase of 14 percent from the previous quarter’s total of 626 properties and 129 percent higher from the first quarter of 2009 with 312 such properties.

And notice of trustee sales hit 900 in the first quarter of 2010, an 11 percent increase from the previous quarter.

But the number of notices also fell six percent from the first quarter of 2009′s total of 961.

Blomquist said it could be a bit of a positive sign.

“(It could be) an indication that the county is working through some of the foreclosure inventory,” he said.

But Blomquist said the government intervention programs like 2009′s Home Affordable Modification Program and this year’s Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Act may also cause delays in the regular foreclosure flow.

A local real estate broker shares a similar take.

Steve Irwin, owner/designated broker of Prudential Northern Arizona Real Estate in Prescott Valley, thinks more foreclosures are coming.

“I think we’re out of the distressed market in 18 to 24 months,” he said.

Sitting in his newest office in the Pronghorn subdivision, Irwin said sales at Prudential’s four tri-city offices are up 30 to 40 percent over the same time this past month, but about a quarter of the business is distressed properties.

Multiple Listing Service data from the Prescott Area Association of Realtors shows about 2,300 active listings as of Thursday morning, compared to about 3,700 in 2009, according to Irwin, who said MLS data shows six distressed properties in the Pronghorn community, 15 in Quailwood and 18 in Viewpoint subdivisions now.

“I see the inventory evaporating slowly,” he said.

Irwin believes more firm prices and stabilizing property values are signs that the market is gradually getting healthier.

“I think now is the time to buy because we have a surplus of inventory,” he said. “I think the outlook is very positive.”