Phoenix No. 9 on `Forbes' list for real estate investment

The Valley's housing woes are far from over, but there is some good news in the form of investors.

Phoenix made ``Forbes" magazine's top 10 list for real estate investment markets. Investors from other states and Canada are snapping up homes in Phoenix, making it ninth on the list.

Valley mortgage lenader Dean Wegner said that's great news.

``We can use all the foreign buyers that we can get," said Wegner, adding that a lot of people are saying the Valley's housing market has hit bottom and is on track for a rebound.

Why are investors looking at the Valley of the Sun?

``Home prices are very affordable and people can get a great deal," Wegner said. ``There's a lot of incentives, the builders have huge giveaways that they're including if you buy one of their properties. So it's a great time to buy, and people from out of state are picking up on it."

He added, ``Of the five largest cities, we're the most affordable city of them all. So that's attractive, we have good freeways, good schools. Everything's open and newer, and the weather, you can't beat the weather."

These investors are not the same people who flooded the market during the housing boom, eventually causing the bubble to burst, Wegner said.

``This is a completely different crowd of buyers that are coming in and purchasing," Wegner said. ``This is a more sophisticated buyer, these are people who have money, who have good credit, who have bigger down payments. They know what they're doing."

Most investors have been watching the market for a couple of years and think it's finally bottomed out, Wegner said.

The top five U.S. real estate markets for investment on the ``Forbes" list are New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. Boston is No. 6, followed by Chicago, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Orlando, Fla.