A notable suburb of the Phoenix area, Chandler, Arizona, lies in Maricopa County and is home to a population nearly a quarter of a million. The fast-growing city experienced start rises in real estate prices in recent years, but many of those gains were brought to an abrupt halt at the onset of the U.S. credit crisis, when housing markets across the country collapsed.

According to local realtors John Hall Associates, most recent months have shown some slight signs for optimism in the Chandler real estate market, as sales activity rises. In March, there were 408 homes sold in Chandler, a sizable increase from February’s 275 sales and January’s 234. The figure was the highest monthly figure since October 2009. It is an improvement on figures from one year ago, when there were just 296 sales.

The number of listings has steadily risen as well, tracing an upward-leaning path since September 2009, when it reached a trough. In April, there were 1,671 active listings of Chandler homes for sale, up from 1,613 in March and 1,519 in February. The figure is a drop from one year ago, however, when there were 1,752 listings.

Prices per square foot of homes sold in Chandler are beginning to form a steady line, remaining basically constant over the past year. In March, the figure was $105, the exact same figure as it was one year ago. March also showed a troubling sign however: a spike in foreclosures. There were 391 foreclosure notices in March and 249 trustee sales, both sizable increase from the previous month. Foreclosure notices have fallen since last year though, when there were 438 in March. Trustee sales, however, have risen; there were just 106 last March.