There is a competition going on out there in certain parts of the valley.  Buyers are crowding into homes and submitting competing offers and back up offers.

Sound familiar?  It's almost like the days of low supply and high demand in 2005, but this is in July 2008 a depressed market, a market with an oversupply and dooms-day naysayers standing on soap boxes on every corner proclaiming the death of real estate.

	Active	AWC	Pending	Sold
All Surprise	1,545	93	274	92
up to $160K	328	36	115	29

(Sold is for last 30 days)

There is some girth to those on the soap-box.  Prices have declined a lot.  Look at the graph below which is only for Surprise.  In May 2006 the median price was $256,000 and now in June 2008 it's $189,000.  That's a dramatic drop in just 2 years. 

But what's sparking this flurry of transactions in Surprise is precisely this drop in prices.  Homes have become very affordable.  A very nice home for $160,000 at 7% interest is only $852.00 PI with a 20% down-payment.    This is a payment comparable to a nice apartment once you ad the taxes and insurance in and these are nice homes.

Look at dramatic increase in sales over the last few months.  They are at levels not seen since the peak in mid 2006.  293 homes sold in June 2008.  That represents 19% of the supply of homes and a total supply just over 5 months.  6 months of supply is considered stability.

Many still consider Surprise along with Queencreek and Goodyear to be the dogs of the market.  They did have some dramatic declines in prices but the numbers don't lie and the traffic certainly tells more than any statistics could.  The buyers are out and they are hungry for good affordable homes.