Phoenix housing market lacks supply of homebuyers

09-09-2010 • AZcentral.com

In the metro Phoenix housing market, it's all a simple matter of supply and demand: too many homes for sale and not enough buyers. Of the people who are buying homes, more than a third are investors, snapping up mostly foreclosure homes at bargain prices and turning them into rentals. The number of houses on the market remains high, partly because many traditional homebuyers just aren't buying. Some of them want to buy - but can't. Mortgage requirements are tighter now than they have been in a generation, and many people who would like to get into the market can't qualify. Some of them can buy - but won't. Many renters today see friends and relatives burned by the housing collapse who now owe more than their homes are worth. They're reluctant to get in because they think home values will keep falling. Many young professionals say that they find such great bargains in rental homes, buying doesn't make financial sense.