Housing prices in the Phoenix metro area continue to plummet and the rate of decline has accelerated, according to Karl L. Guntermann, a professor of real estate and finance at the W. P. Carey School of Business.

The home-equity loan industry is crowded with competitors, making it tough for mortgage companies to hang onto market share — much less grow revenue, according to Brad Connor, president of Chase Home Equity, who recently spoke at the 18th Annual Compete Through Service Symposium, sponsored by the

The most popular indices currently in use today, such as those developed by the National Association of Realtors, measure the median home prices nationally and in a given region. But is median price the best way to measure the trend in home prices?

If you are in the market for a house, the news is good: Sellers will answer your calls and consider your offer.

January — usually the slowest month of the year for home sales — turned out to be the second quietest in 14 years.

More than two years of rising prices in the Phoenix real estate market appear to be coming to an end, says Michael Orr, director of the Center for Real Estate Theory and practice and author of the monthly housing report.

What will growth in the real estate industry look like post-recession? That depends on a number of factors. Development will be much more focused on fulfilling specific needs and on infill. Development on the periphery will not cease, but it will likely be less grand in volume.

A group of the Valley’s most successful brokers, meeting at a real estate forum at the W. P. Carey School of Business, agree that although the commercial real estate market is recovering, improvement will be slow.

Real estate projects that usually have trouble attracting the interest of banks are gaining momentum with alternative financing tools such as the EB-5 program, the JOBS Act and smaller, specialty lenders.

Making sense of the Phoenix real estate market requires an understanding of sales data, demographics and trends. On January 25, 2013, the W. P. Carey School of Business and The Arizona Republic assembled a panel of experts, each with depth knowledge of a different facet of the market.