No matter where you are, you might still be feeling the effects of the current housing market crisis. In the Phoenix area, the recent data from Arizona State University reflect further bad news: home values are continuously falling and foreclosure numbers climbing.

The W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU released a report that showed dim numbers for the month of August. For the third month in a row, the median price for existing homes has fallen in the Valley. Even foreclosures are mounting, accounting for the highest percentage of existing-home activity since the first month of the year.

Jay Butler, associate professor of real estate at ASU, reveals, “Foreclosures accounted for 45 percent of the existing-home market activity in August. When you add in resales of previously foreclosed-on homes, all of this foreclosure-related activity represents a full two-thirds of the market’s transactions in August.”

All numbers related to the Phoenix area housing market are grim. In august, Maricopa County alone recorded 4,000 foreclosures – 100 more than the previous month and 900 more than a year ago, Even sales activity is not good: only 4,800 homes were resold in August, down from 5,100 in July and 6,000 in August 2009.

The median home resale price has also been on a decline in the past months. Starting from May’s $144,000, the median resale price went down to $143,000 in June. Further backslide was seen in the next two months, with the number hitting $137,500 in July and $135,000 in August. August 2009’s median home resale price was at $138,000.

In August, there were 603 foreclosed properties in the townhouse/condominium market. The median price also took a plunge to $80,000 from last year’s $105,000.

Interest rates and home prices may be at their lowest but homeowners are not motivated to purchase. Butler says this may be because of the “anemic economic and job recovery”. Other reasons, he offers, are low consumer confidence and stricter underwriting guidelines.