Phoenix homes now undervalued by 22%

A frequent leader of late on the negative side of housing stats, Phoenix avoided the top spot among offenders on IHS Global Insight�s analysis of overvalued housing markets during the real estate bubble. And as of year-end, home prices here were undervalued by more than 22 percent, according to the data released Friday. �The metro areas of California and Florida dominated the extremely overvalued list at the end of 2005,� the report says. �Overall, 10 metro areas have seen prices decline by more than 50 percent from their peaks, led by Merced, Calif.� Merced was off 64 percent. Phoenix also escaped the next rung of 31 metro areas with declines of more than 40 percent � but barely Prices in the Phoenix area fell 39.5 percent from 2005 to 2009, according to IHS, which provides economic and financial information on a variety of subjects. The report put 2005 prices in the Phoenix area at $242,100 � being overvalued by 38.9 percent. That compares with $146,500 at the end of 2009, with an undervaluation of 22.3 percent.

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