That's what a new report from Arizona State University is telling us.

Michael Orr, Director of the Center for Real Estate Theory and Practice at the W.P Carey School of Business at ASU released his April 2013 report for the Valley on June 5.

Even though prices have been dramatically gaining in the Valley, the report stated the greater Phoenix housing market is not in danger of a bubble.

Here are some other points of interest in the report.

• Housing market remains dominated by a chronic supply shortage.

• Number of active listings has declined still further since last month and the shortage continues to get more severe among the most affordable sectors.

• Higher prices would normally encourage more ordinary home sellers to enter the market but it seems many potential sellers are either locked in by negative equity or are on the sidelines waiting for prices to rise further. At some point, we will reach a pricing level where re-sale supply will free up, but it seems clear we are still not there.

• Strong demand from investors is slowly subsiding to be replaced by demand from owner-occupiers and second home buyers.

• For now it looks like developers will probably build fewer than half the homes necessary to keep pace with current population trends.

• Although large price increases have been occurring for well over a year now, appraisals are still a problem area, preventing some transactions from completing. The appraisal industry often has a difficult time allowing for three-month price change of 9 percent as we just saw over the last three months.

Listen to Diane Brennan Saturdays at 3 p.m. on That Real Estate Show on News/Talk 92.3 KTAR.

Have you heard about the Maricopa County Home in 5 Advantage Program?

We've been talking about it on That Real Estate Show for a while now. Some people still haven't heard about this great program that gives you money to help you buy a home in the Phoenix area or Maricopa County.

Maricopa County has grant money and is giving 5 percent toward down payments and closing costs. For veterans they're giving 6 percent.

Interest rates have been increasing and this program is following suit. They increased it once already this week, but they've done it again.

The rate in the Home in Five Advantage Program is 4.375 percent for all new reservations. Loans in the pipeline will remain at the original rate.

Why are they increasing? We asked Lisa the Lender with That Real Estate Show.

"Rates are increasing for several reasons, but primarily because of all the good news we've been getting lately," she said. "The economy has been on the rebound for a while now and we are starting to see some really positive economic indicators such as lower unemployment, rising house prices and the need for the government to purchase mortgage backed securities decreases. For quite some time, the Federal Reserve has been purchasing mortgage backed securities at a rate of $40 billion a month until the economy improved. Now we will see the Federal Reserve back off the mortgage backed securities and this will drive interest rates and this will drive interest rates up.Historically, interest rates follow the state of the economy."

Lisa also added that "Interest rates are on the rise, but because home prices have increased so rapidly, especially in Arizona, there are many homeowners who do not realize how much 'new found' equity they have in their homes. So many of my past clients don't think they can refinance their current loans because they have a lack of equity. I still get calls wanting to know about the HARP loan that allowed homeowners to refinance their mortgage if they were upside down in value. There is not a huge need any more for HARP loans because homeowners now have equity with the rising home prices. This means that the time to refinance is now and people do not want to miss this opportunity because rates are going to continue to go up over the next few years and we won't see these historical low rates anymore. Even though rates are going up, there is still time to get in on an amazing interest rate, one that you may not see again in your lifetime. And many homeowners may not want to sell their homes knowing they are not upside in value anymore."

What do you need to qualify for the Maricopa County Home in 5 Advantage Program?

• You must have a FICO score of 640.
• Household income can not exceed $88,000.
• Purchase price of home must not exceed $300,000.
• You must take an online course.

To learn more, contact us.

Join Diane Brennan and Lisa the Lender Saturdays at 3 p.m. on News/Talk 92.3 KTAR for That Real Estate Show.

That's right, Maricopa County is offering money to help you buy a home.

They are running out of money though. I sat down with the expert, Lisa the Lender from That Real Estate Show, to help answer your questions. She's the expert and her company, Amerifirst Financial, is approved to do the program. She also gives us the low-down on changes to FHA; even more reason to get your butts in gear and take advantage of this grant money.

1. So Lisa the Lender, Maricopa County Home in 5 Advantage Program. Why is this so popular?

Free money!

It's been years since there has been a grant program like this on "the lending street." We used to see these programs quite frequently from 2000 to 2006, then the mortgage meltdown came along and all we heard was crickets on these types of down payment assistance programs.

The MHI5 rolled out in October 2012 and frankly shocked us all considering the funds do not have to be paid back. In the past, these programs has what is called a "recapture tax," where you had to pay the funds back once you sold the home or you had a second lien on your home for the amount of the down payment assistance.

This program is popular because its non-repayable but more importantly, the timing on it could not have been better. We needed this grant program to help get the first-time homebuyers and boomerang buyers back in the game.

2. Tell us the details.

Here's how it works. Five percent of the loan amount is given to a borrower to cover their down payment and a portion of their closing costs. Veterans receive 6 percent and, since they are already eligible for 100 percent financing, the 6 percent covers all of their closing costs and essentially they get into the home for nothing. The program requires a FICO score of 640, household income no higher than $88,000 and a max sales price in Maricopa County of $300,000.

The program just opened up in Yavapai and Coconino Counties last week so we are seeing a mad rush in those counties.

3. Do you have to pay the money back?

Nope, nada, zilch. That is what's so incredible about it: It's free, no catch, no gimmicks.

4. Anything I have to do?

You must get pre-qualified through a lender who is approved to facilitate the program. Amerifirst Financial was one of the first companies chose to participate in this program. We know what we are doing and we do it well.

5. Are they running out of money?

Yes they are. The program started with $32 million in Oct. 2012 and as of April 24, there was $2.5 million left.

We are all crossing our fingers that the county releases another allocation of funds. However, we won't know if this is a possibility until the funds run out.

6. Where can I get more information?

Contact me through thatrealestateshow.co and I can email you with more specific information including a brochure on the program. You can also call me and I can give you all the details.

7. Can you also explain the changes to FHA?

I'm going to sound like a Debbie Downer here, but the changes are not positive.

I have been providing FHA loans to clients for almost 20 years and the recent change is something I have not seen before. Not only is the cost of FHA monthly mortgage insurance increasing, but as of June 1, it can never be removed from your mortgage unless you pay the loan off or refinance out of an FHA loan. This is BIG!

As it stands today, if you close a loan with FHA financing, you can have the mortgage insurance removed from your loan once you have paid it for five years and you have 22 percent equity built up in your home. We can thank the government for this upcoming change. FHA is broke and in order to stay around, it needs to get out of the red and build back up its reserves.

You can hear Diane Brennan and Lisa the Lender Saturdays at 3 p.m. on That Real Estate Show on News/Talk 92.3 KTAR.

Yikes! Our inventory continues to be low in the Valley, we have more buyers than sellers.

We are seeing multiple offers on properties in desirable areas.

Here's a rundown of our first quarter in the Valley of the Sun:

• Median sales price of a home in Maricopa County has increased 30 percent and is at $169,227.
• Average sales price is up 27 percent to $225,406.
• People are getting 98.6 percent of their asking price.
• The amount of homes for sale is down 1.4 percent from one year ago.
• Months supply of homes is up almost 18 percent to 2.7 months.
• Average days on market for a home for sale: 53 days.

Maricopa County Home in 5 Advantage Program

The headline is, "They're running out of money, so time to get your butts in gear!"

Maricopa County is offering 5 percent of your down payment and closing costs. It's grant money, which means you don't have to pay it back.

Maricopa County has announced it has less than $4 million left to give out. No word yet on if they're getting more moolah to dish out.

Some of the criteria to qualify:

• Household income less than $90,000 per year.
• Good credit (allowed some bumps in the road).
• Must take a home-buying course from Maricopa County. It's offered online.
• Must live in the new home within 90 days of closing.
• New home must be less than $300,000.

You can always contact That Real Estate Show to see if you qualify.

Join Realtor Diane Brennan for That Real Estate Show every Saturday at 3 p.m. on News/Talk 92.3 KTAR.

If you're looking to buy or sell or buy a home in the Phoenix area or just keep tabs on the market, That Real Estate Show is your best source for information.

Here's the Cromford Report's Market Summary for the beginning of April: March was a somewhat stronger month for sales volumes but most trends continued in the same direction as they have for many months.

Here are the basic ARMLS numbers for April 1, 2013 relative to April 1, 2012 for all areas & types:

• Active Listings (excluding UCB): 16,415 versus 14,175 last year. Up 15.8 percent but down 3.9 percent from 17,090 last month.
• Active Listings (including UCB): 20,670 versus 21,841 last year. Down 5.4 percent and down 3.7 percent from 21,460 last month.
• Pending Listings: 10,658 versus 11,964 last year. Down 10.9 percent but up 3.5 percent from 10,300 last month.
• Monthly Sales: 8,162 versus 8,187 last year. Down 7.4 percent but up 24.5 percent from 6,555 last month.
• Monthly Average Sales Price per Sq. Ft.: $113.10 versus $93.57 last year. Up 21 percent and up 1.3 percent from last month.
• Monthly Median Sales Price: $167,000 versus $130,000 last year. Up 28.5 percent and up 4.4 percent from last month.

As is common for the end of a quarter, we saw a large number of sales closed on ARMLS in the last two working days of the month. These late closings had a slight bias towards the lower and of the market so the final sales price numbers for March saw a relatively small advance over February. I say relatively because a 1.3 percent jump in average dollars per square foot and a 4.4 percent jump in median sales price would normally be thought of as large.

The closing of many cheaper homes has left the pending and UCB listings showing higher average dollars per square foot, suggesting strongly that sales prices will continue to move higher in April.

Our pending listing counts are rising much more slowly than they have at similar points in recent years. This shows us that rising prices are having a dampening effect on demand. However, out there in the market it is hard to detect the weakening in demand because supply remains so far below normal that sellers remain severely outnumbered by buyers.

Sales volumes remain weaker than last year, down 7.4 percent from 12 months ago, but the deficit is less than in February. Bank-owned and short sale homes continue to get scarcer. Normal sales across greater Phoenix were 29 percent higher than in March 2012. However lender owned sales in greater Phoenix were down 51 percent and short sales and pre-foreclosures were down 43 percent.

Supply remains weak, but the situation is not deteriorating as fast as it did this time last year when active listing counts were dropping very quickly. The number of new listings being added is almost, but not quite, enough to make up for the listings going under contract or getting cancelled or expired.

Appreciation rates are dropping because prices were rising so fast this time last year. It is unlikely that they will be able to rise so fast this year, but price will still rise at a strong pace over the near term, at least until we hit the summer months.

Normal sales took a 73 percent market share in February (the highest since February 2008) with short sales at 16 percent and real estate-owned sales at 11 percent (their lowest share since December 2007).

We have been expecting new home builders to increase production more than they have so far. The number of permits issued in the first two months of the year suggest they are being very cautious and this is likely to mean that prices will have to rise quite a bit further before a balance is found between supply and demand. So we repeat our expectation that prices will rise at least 10 percent between February and June this year. March only delivered 1.3 percent so we must expect more movement in the next few months.

Hear Michael with Diane Brennan and Linda Williams for That Market Report on That Real Estate Show Saturdays at 3 p.m. on News/Talk 92.3 KTAR.

Well, we know Valley residents know a good deal when they spot one. Many are taking advantage of grant money Maricopa County is offering for people who want to buy a home.

Haven't heard about it yet?

Maricopa County is giving people 5% towards their down payment and/or closing costs to purchase a home. You don't have to be a first time home buyer. They're giving Veterans 6%.

Here's the criteria Credit Score of 640. Income Limit of $90,000 per year. That's with you and your spouse combined. Homes your interested in buying must be under $300,000. You must live in this home. Must take a course from Maricopa County about home ownership. You can do it online.

Sounds great doesn't it? Well it has for hundreds in the Valley who are trying to see if they qualify.

For more information, contact That Real Estate Show.

Join Realtor Diane Brennan and Veteran Valley Journalist Linda Williams every Saturday at 3pm for all your Real Estate Information. It's That Real Estate Show on News Talk 92.3 KTAR. Check us out at thatrealestateshow.co - it's .co, we couldn't afford the "m."

Missed That Real Estate Show this past Saturday?

If you're looking to buy or sell a home, That Real Estate Show is a great resource to help with all your real estate questions. Couldn't catch the show? No problem! Here's what you missed.

That Market Report - Michael Orr, director of the Real Estate Center at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, talked about the Valley's healing economy and how that's affecting the real estate market. We also focus this week on Avondale. Did you get your property valuation from the County Assessor? Why so low you ask? We ask Mike just how they figure that out.

Free Money From Maricopa County - Maricopa County is giving 5% to people wanting to buy a home. If you're a Veteran, it's 6%! See if you qualify! Listen here.

Why the low Inventory? - Tina Tamboer with the Cromford Report shares why the Valley's housing market is faced with a low inventory. Listen here.

Vacation Rentals - Realtor Diane Brennan talks about using your property as a vacation rental during the Valley's busy tourist season and how lucrative that can be for you. Listen here.

As always, know what your house is worth or what the property next door sold for. Get a free home evaluation from That Real Estate Show. Listen here.

If you'd like to hear other editions of That Real Estate Show, Just go to our podcast section at ThatRealEstateShow.Co. Join Linda Williams and Realtor Diane Brennan every Saturday for That Real Estate Show at 3 p.m on News Talk 92.3 KTAR.

I don't mean to yell, but I just really, really want to emphasize that you should kick it into gear if you're on the fence about buying a home.

There has never been a better time to buy. Prices are still relatively low in the Valley and so are interest rates, but there are two more reasons I feel you need to get it moving.

Reason #1: Big changes to the FHA loan program

It's going to be more expensive to get an FHA loan. What is an FHA loan and why should you care? If you don't have a ton of money for a down payment, then this is the loan you'll likely be getting.

When buyers are approved for an FHA loan, they have to pay for mortgage insurance. This is a government-backed loan and the feds want assurance you're going to pay your mortgage every month. This mortgage insurance would drop off once you had enough equity in your home.

Not anymore.

Starting June 1, 2013, you'll have it on there forever and the amount you're going to have to pay is going to increase as well. For those that currently have an FHA loan, experts tell me that you don't have to worry. It's only for those taking a new loan out.

So that's a great reason to get on your home purchase now, but that's not the only one. How about free money to help?

Reason #2: Maricopa County is offering a grant

Take advantage of a grant Maricopa County is offering. I love the word grant. It means you don't have to pay it back."

All together rejoice!

It's called the Maricopa County Home in 5 Advantage Program. You don't have to give up your first born to get it either.

You do have to take an online class about home ownership, but really, isn't that worth it? You can get 5 percent to help pay for your down payment or closing costs. Veteran you can get 6 percent.

To qualify:

• Your household income must not exceed $90,000 per year.
• FICO score must be 640.
• Home price maximum is $300,000.

For more information, contact us.

Now, get a move on it people and don't say I didn't warn you!

Please join Realtor Diane Brennan and veteran Valley journalist Linda Williams every Saturday at 3 p.m. for That Real Estate Show on News/Talk 92.3 KTAR.

It doesn't matter if you're buying a home, selling a home or just interested where you're sitting in the market place, That Real Estate Show is a wealth of free information.

We like to think we're entertaining, too, or maybe we just entertain ourselves. For example, That Real Estate Show crew went sky diving! Are we crazy? You bet we are. Here are some pictures.

Want to know what your home is worth? - The best way to see where your home value is, is to find out what homes in your neighborhood are selling for. Free Home Evaluation. Click on the big red button.

That market report - Michael Orr, Director of the Real Estate Center at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, joins us every Saturday at 3 p.m. Listen here.

Lending questions - Lisa the Lender answered your questions about changes to FHA Mortgage Insurance. She also explained how to get free money from Maricopa County to help with closing costs and a down payment. It's called the Maricopa County Home in 5 Advantage Program. Listen here.

Kristena Hansen, Real Estate Reporter with the Phoenix Business Journal joined us to talk about her take on the market. Also, she tells us about her experience buying her first home. Listen here.

Dirty 30 - Your chance to get free air time to sell your home. Realtors who joined us on Saturday were Kay Wood, Lee Christensen & Kristena Hansen from the Phoenix Business Journal to tell us what type of home she's looking to buy. Listen Here. If you want to join us.... please do. It's free. Contact Us.

Join veteran Valley TV News Anchor Linda Williams and Real Estate Expert Diane Brennan every Saturday at 3 p.m. for That Real Estate Show on News/Talk 92.3 KTAR.

You read that right! Free money to buy a home in Maricopa County.

It's called the Maricopa County Home in 5 Advantage Program. It's a big fat grant the county got.

Buyers (and you don't have to a first time home buyer) get 5 percent from Maricopa County to use towards a down payment. Veterans who qualify get 6 percent.

If there's one thing I love to do, it's to tell people about great deals.

Do you need to donate a kidney to partipate or give up your first born? No. Here's what you do need to do:

• Have a minimum FICO score of 640.
• Your annual income must not exceed $90,000 per year, but if you're qualified United States military personnel, there is no income limit.
• Home has to be within Maricopa County.
• You must live in this home. It must be your primary residence.
• You need to get your stuff moved in and living there within 60 days after close of escrow.

The best part? This is a grant, meaning you do not have to pay this money back.

I repeat.

You DO NOT have to pay this money back.

Not all lenders can participate.

Lisa Brown with Amerifirst Financial can facilitate the program. Contact her for help. You can also hear Lisa the Lender Saturdays at 3 p.m. on That Real Estate Show with Diane Brennan and Linda Williams on News/Talk 92.3 KTAR.