In The News 04-03-06....The market adjustment....Superstition Vistas...The Condo craze in Scottsdale

The first article, Home builder says market's in good place, from the Arizona Republic, reports on Fulton Homes president Doug Fulton's take on the local housing market. When asked how he sees the market now, Fulton says that this is just a small correction that needed to happen. The velocity of sales and appreciation was not sustainable and we are now getting back to a normal market. Regarding home prices being too high, Fulton states that you need to look at Colorado, California, Las Vegas and New Mexico. For our economic health, jobs, the net in migration of people, Fulton says we were simply undervalued and that we have caught up to where we needed to be. He does not see prices correcting more than 10 percent from where we are today.

http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/clicktrack/print.php?referer=http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0403biz-execprofile0403.html

The second article, Superstition Vistas: Where we grow next, from the Arizona Republic, reports that the giant 275 square mile Superstition Vistas, a state land parcel of desert located between Apache Junction, the Superstition Mountains, Queen Creek and Florence, is being planned as a major planned community that could have almost 1 million residents by 2060. The cities closest to the future development, along with Pinal County, SRP, CAP and the Sonoran Institute , have paid the Morrison Institute for public Policy at ASU $200,000 to report on how the land should be developed. Lots of issues were discussed in the 31-page report, including water, open space, transportation and infrastructure. The full report, called "The Treasure of the Superstition", can be seen online at http://www.morrisoninstitute.org/.

http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/clicktrack/print.php?referer=http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0402vistas-main0402.html

The third article, Downtown Scottsdale is crazy for condos, from the East Valley Tribune, reports that Scottsdale's condo market is booming, with construction cranes and the steel skeletons of what will soon become luxury dwellings looming against the skyline. Investors and developers have poured more than $1.6 billion into every segment of the downtown area--- retail, employment, cultural, hotel and residential. Of the 2,600 new, planned or built condo units, 2,100 are situated in downtown, and those units are selling at average prices of more than $500,000, city records show. Of the 750 condos at Optima, 500 have already been sold! The buyers of these condo units "are people that have been living in gated communities who are excited about a lifestyle that is more engaging than what is afforded in a gated community," said John Little Sr., executive director of The Downtown Group, the city's liaison to downtown businesses.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=62358