A pair of reports on the Arizona housing bubble. "According to East Mesa real-estate agents E.T. and Lauri Saffon, Mesa is a hot housing market compared to the rest of the country. 'Homes are selling for just below asking price,' Mrs. Saffon said. 'The days of higher list price offers are gone. Homes are priced at market value.'"

"However, in the May 5 article, Fortune magazine disagrees, calling the Phoenix/Mesa market one of the country’s worst real-estate 'dead zones.' Citing average home prices, the magazine said Mesa is overpriced."

"'Sellers are trying to maintain pricing from last summer when inventory was one-eighth of what it is now,' Mrs. Saffon said. 'Last year approximately 5,000 homes were on the market and now we have approximately 40,000. Since there is an over-supply of homes versus buyers, the demand has fallen as have prices.'"

"'Now is a great time to buy. Inventory is up and options are available,' said Russell Paperman, Mesa real-estate agent. 'Buyers can get a deal now. Now is also a great time to purchase new construction. The builders are now offering fantastic incentives.'"

"Contrary to the surface appearance of its most recent sales figures, the Chandler resale home market is not, repeat, not, in the midst of a headlong plummet."

"'The market is simply normalizing,' said Jay Butler, of the Arizona State University. Mr. Butler uses that same verb to describe the resale market across metropolitan Phoenix, which 'normalized' from 7,264 sales in March 2006, and from 8,735 sales in April 2005, to 5,980 sales in April 2006."

"'This was the weakest April since 2000,' Mr. Butler said. 'But we’re just following a very typical pattern. The activity in April represents a lull from the end of the holidays and preparation for the stronger summer months ahead.'"

"Mr. Butler’s observations are identical to those of at least two Chandler real estate professionals, down to slight variations of the word 'normalizing.' 'People are still buying homes, man,' said (mortgage broker) Desmond Cooley in Chandler. 'There are tons of people buying homes.'"

"'It’s just that we are back to a normal market, back to where we were about three years ago. This is just the same fallout that every major, West Coast city has gone through over the last 10 years. They get that huge spike, then they get that little lull, then they come back strong,' Cooley said."

"The primary reason the resale market’s 'normalization' may resemble a plummet to some, Mr. Butler said, is that 'Everybody assumes last year was a good year, and it really wasn’t. In a sense, it was like we were running a high fever, and now we’re just returning to a more normal temperature for your body. That’s really the key thing.'"

"That, however, is not a promise the Valley’s real estate temperature will not drop to even lower levels. 'The market may go down a bit further, because these things don’t just adjust on a dime,' Mr. Butler said. Also headed south, at least in some areas of the Valley, are median home prices. 'Not significantly over a year ago, but they are showing a downward trend,' Mr. Butler said."

"For Chandler residents with 'For Sale' signs gathering cobwebs in front of their homes, Mr. Butler said, the message of the Valley’s declining sales is simple: Do not panic."

"Again, Mr. Cooley agrees. 'I’ll tell you something,' he said. 'We have a huge growth in South Chandler, there are so many new businesses coming to the area construction can’t keep up with them. I’m going to buy as much real estate as I can get my hands on right now.'"