So as I was reviewing the 9920 Condominiums website the other day looking for floor plans, I missed the obvious news staring me in the face. The 9920s are no longer for sale. The developer has turned the community into a rental complex.

This discovery was made this morning when I walked in the door with a client and said we’d like to look at the models. “For rent?,” the agent asked. “Um, no,” I said. And that’s when we knew.

It’s a shame. I can understand the developers’ need to get the units filled. Sales had been slow but it appeared they were taking place. And going rental?

Right project, wrong time.

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Let’s put the declaration of the summer slowdown in the Phoenix real estate market on hold for a week …

Sales of single-family detached homes in Maricopa County over the past 30 days rose to 4,427, an inceased of nearly 600 homes from last week’s update. Inventory fell slightly, down 224 homes to 37,001. The result was an absorption rate of 8.34 months of inventory.

Supply of bank owned homes rose once again, this time to 5,529 homes - an increase of about 100 homes - but sales over the past 30 days rose by over 170 homes, dropping the absorption rate for REO homes to 3.51 months.

Queen Creek and Tolleson remain the two true sellers’ markets in the Phoenix real estate market, both with absorption rates of less than five months. Surprise and Ahwatukee also saw significant decreases and are in the area of neutral markets with absorption rates of 5.34 and 5.10 months, respectively.

As always, all of the below data is provided by the Arizona Regional MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Phoenix Real Estate Inventory: August 5

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According to an article posted last night on azcentral.com, escrows that were being processed at Arizona Title have been shifted to First American Title.

The article cited at Houston Chronicle article that said Mercury Cos., the parent company for Arizona Title here and United Title in Texas, had stopped the funding to force the closure.

United Title had 27 offices in Texas, Arizona Title has 15 offices here.

“This decision was precipitated by an unexpected, and in our opinion, unwarranted and unjustified act by our syndicate of banks, which deprived us of the cash we needed to sustain and to continue those operations,” the newspaper reported the Denver-based company said in a memo to employees Wednesday.

Both Arizona Title and United Title are subsidiaries of Mercury, which also owns title agencies in California, Colorado, Oregon and Nevada.

Title insurance ultimately was being handled by First American, thus the move to FATCO.

Mercury said it is coordinating with its underwriter, First American, “to ensure that all escrows are safe and all closings through the Arizona, Texas and California offices will take place,” the memo said.

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Confirmed with two sources (as my journalism teachers always taught us) …

Arizona Title is no more. Called the Arrowhead Ranch office and the recording is the after-hours “we are closed” message. No clue what this means for those who have pending closings there but the guess is the escrows have come to a halt and will need to be restarted.

Rumors of the demise first started circulating yesterday and there was a chain of posts on Twitter asking the same question.

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After a second one-week hiatus, this one caused by a speaking engagement at last week’s Inman Real Estate Connect Conference in San Francisco, we’re back with our weekly market update.

The high-level overview of the Phoenix real estate market was earlier today … inventory’s starting to creep up while sales have dropped slightly over the past 30 days, compared to a couple of weeks ago.

Mixed results on a city-by-city basis … absorption rate in most are up but there are some notable exceptions, including Buckeye and Anthem.

As always, all of the below data is provided by the Arizona Regional MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Phoenix Real Estate Inventory: July 29

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