ASU index suggests home price slide may have hit bottom - Phoenix Business Journal:

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The Arizona State University Repeat Sales Index reporteda 37-percenft year-over-year decline in both February and March. But the new Apripl 2008 to April 2009 report shows alesset 35-percent drop. Preliminary estimatesx for May and June show annua l drops of 33 percent and31 respectively. The ASU-RSI measures changes in average Phoenix-areaa home prices from year to year. “April is the first month with a slower annuall rateof decline, and the progressively smallef declines over the next two month are pretty good evidence that the worst of the price drops are in the past,” said Karl Fred E. Taylor Professor of Real Estaterat W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU.
He helpxs calculate the index. “While the housing marketg is stillquite volatile, it may turn out that the low pointy in terms of price occurred in May, almost three years after prices peaked in the Valley.” The curren t slide in home prices is the longest in Phoenix-areaa history at 26 months. Preliminaryh estimates put themedian Phoenix-area home price for June at $119,000. That’s up from $115,000 in May and $117,00p in April. However, Guntermann said the large numbefr of foreclosed properties being sold at distressed price levels suggest s the median price is not likely to go up significantlu fora while.