Hello, this is what the banks have been telling us would happen since last September. It is not a bad thing. So many homes are sitting there getting their foreclosure date put off month after month. Some are vacant, some are trying to get a short sale approved and some are working the system. The banks have said they are either approving or foreclosing. This is good for the market in the long run. It will hurt a few home owners that don’t have the correct representation in a short sale, but it will help the overall market in the long run.

What this report failed to mention is the number of REO homes in the Pending status increased by over 700 in January. So those foreclosed on homes are selling. Also, in January home sales for the month were 7,189. This is the highest level of home activity since April of 2010. This is a fact pulled from the Arizona Multiple Listing Service. Also, home closing were up 11.4% compared to January of 2010.

Well there is some great news! Why doesn’t the Arizona Republic report that information?

Watch for my market report to be release later this week, Get the FACTS NOW!

Single-family-home foreclosures surged to 3,620 transactions in January, up from 2,440 transactions in December, according to the report.

As a percentage of all transactions, foreclosures on detached, single-family homes increased to 43 percent of activity, after three months in which foreclosures made up 30 percent of activity.

Butler said the resurgence of foreclosures appears to stem from the lifting of temporary moratoriums instituted by lenders late last year as they investigated alleged problems in the way banks had been processing foreclosure paperwork.

“The main question for the coming months is whether the January surge in foreclosure activity is a temporary response in unclogging the pipeline after foreclosure moratoriums ended or a continuation of a market being dominated by foreclosures,” he said.

There were 4,705 single-family-home resale transactions in January, down from 5,715 resales in December, but more than the 4,225 transactions recorded in January 2010.

Among townhouse and condominium sales activity in January, 520 of the area’s 1,320 resale transactions were foreclosures, about 40 percent.

The median sale price for a single-family home in Maricopa County in January was $125,000 and the median condominium or townhouse price was $76,000.

Both median prices are comparable to those in December, when the median single-family home price was $125,000 and the median condo price was $75,000.

Likewise, single-family and condo prices were down compared with those in January 2010, when they were $136,500 and $95,000, respectively.

The ASU report’s findings are consistent with data released Tuesday by the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, which lists homes for sale by real-estate agents in the Phoenix area.

The service reported a median price of $110,000 in January for all sales.