Oct. 7, 2007 12:00 AM
Resales across metropolitan Phoenix were down again in August, but new-home sales held steady.

It could be a sign that the thousands of speculatively built homes across the Valley are selling while builders are pulling back on putting up more new ones. Both moves will help the resale market because fewer listings mean less supply.

The Phoenix Housing Market Letter tracked 3,110 new-home closings in August. It was the fifth straight month the figure didn’t lose any ground.

New-home prices have dropped since last year, which also is helping sales. The typical new Valley home price shot up to $285,000 during the frenzy of 2005, but this year slipped back to the $255,000 range.

But the report’s publisher, housing analyst RL Brown, said based on home-price increases during normal years like 2002 and 2003, the median price of a new home likely should be even lower, in the $220,000 range now.

Another good sign for metro Phoenix’s housing market is that listings seem to be flattening.

According to the weekly tally of David Blank of the Freedom Team at National Realty Brokers, the number of homes for sale in the Valley stabilized at just under 57,000. Part of that was due to the expiration of some listings at the end of the month, so next week will be telling.

The uptick in new-home closings and leveling off of listings hasn’t helped the Valley’s resale market yet. Early counts by real-estate agents show existing-home sales fell again last month.

And Brown is still giving the housing market a “code red” rating, but he can see it turning the corner in early 2008.

New housing chief

Sheila Harris is leaving the Arizona Department of Housing. The well-known housing advocate has been director of the agency since its inception five years ago.

She is firming up her future career plans, which likely will include some affordable-housing development in the private sector. Her contract is almost up, and Harris decided with her youngest child going to college, it was a good time to make a change.

The department’s incoming director is no novice to the state’s housing issues. Gov. Janet Napolitano has named Fred Karnas Jr. to the position.

Karnas, who recently joined the housing agency as administrator of its new Center for Housing Affordability and Livable Communities, began his career working for the Phoenix task force on homelessness. He then went on to become the first executive director of the Community Housing Partnership, a non-profit housing corporation.

In 1995, he joined the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs and worked on projects across the country.

Condo craze reverts

Metro Phoenix now leads the country for condo “reversions.”

Developers jumped on the condo-conversion craze in the Valley a few years ago, snatching up apartment complexes to turn them into for-sale condos.

But the demand for those condos slowed with the rest of the housing market. Now, more than 2,946 condos are being turned back into apartments in the Phoenix area, according to Real Capital Analytics.

Baltimore is second in the country for condo reversions, with 1,433 units going back to the rental market. Orlando is third, with 1,233 units.

The figures were published in the new PriceWaterhouseCoopers Korpacz Real Estate Investor Survey.

Not all condo conversions in the Valley have failed, however, and some developers are trying valiantly to sell the projects. People with big signs, and often wearing eye-catching costumes, still can be seen promoting condo-conversion projects on many Valley intersections.