Housing prices veer into red

Housing prices in Arizona officially waded into the red last quarter — the first time that’s happened in 16 years.

New figures Thursday from the federal Office of Housing Enterprise Oversight show that home values in the state dropped nearly three-tenths of a percent in the second quarter of this year compared to the prior quarter. The last time the state dipped into negative numbers was in 1991.

And the normally booming Arizona housing market is so cold that prices could not even keep pace with the national average, which actually went up onetenth of a percent in the same period. And that figure was the smallest hike since 1994.

Put in real dollars, that decline means a home which was valued at $200,000 three months earlier now is worth $580 less.

The statistics reflect how much the values of existing homes have gone up — or down. The agency tracks average price changes in repeat sales and refinancings of the same single-family properties, using statistics from mortgage transactions.

As bad as these statistics are, the numbers could get worse.

James Lockhart, the agency’s director, said the new report reflects prices only through June. He said the more recent instability in the mortgage market could affect housing prices, with the results showing up in the third quarter figures that will be released at the end of November.

Even with the quarterly decline, Arizona did manage to post a 2.2 percent increase in home prices over the same period a year earlier. But here, too, the state lagged behind the average national increase of 3.2 percent.

And some states did much better than others.

Neighboring Utah managed to post a gain of nearly 2.7 percent for the quarter — and close to 15.3 percent for the year. And New Mexico came in fifth in the nation for annual home value increases at 8.8 percent.

But Arizona’s other two neighboring states fared worse: California home prices are down almost 1.4 percent from last year; Nevada prices are close to 1.5 percent lower.