By many accounts the Greater Phoenix single family home market has hit bottom.   This is what Case-Schiller shows and this is what the ASU-RSI index shows: May as the bottom plus 4 consecutive months of increases: May to June 0.8%, June to July 1.63%, July to August 0.63%, August to September 2009 0.22%. 

It's different in the condo and town-home market where prices continue to decline.  From month the month there is a negative change: a price decrease.  In July is was as high as 4.18% from June. 

"This first data analysis shows that prices in the townhouse/condo market continue to decline at an increasing rate, plummeting 36 percent in July 2009 compared to July 2008. That's a faster rate than the 33 percent price decline for June and the 31 percent slip in May, Guntermann said."  ASU-RSI

There are many reasons for this, but the main ones include the accessible prices of home homes and the difficulty in obtaining loans in many complexes: in order to get financing for a condo/town-home there are many guidelines to which it needs to adhere:  these can be the stability of the home owners association, how much they have in reserves, how may people are late on dues and the proportion of occupied, vacant and for rent units amongst others.  These are qualifications that home single family communities do not need to satisfy.

The fact that price decreases have accelerated is not good news.  With single family homes, the decline is a matter of finding a balance between demand and supply where in with attached properties, the issues are not necessarily with demand as much as restrictions on financing as discussed above.

None the less some condos complexes are doing fine and selling briskly, especially those that are managed well and have weathered the adversity of the distressed market enabling new owners to obtain financing.  Many of these complexes are in the urban scene where there remains a large difference between the cost of detached home and condos.

Recent months have not been good for condos with tougher lending guidelines.  This is a segment to watch, especially in Central Phoenix where the many high-rise condos sit empty, are in receivership or have a very high level of foreclosures.