Housing market stays hot, builder buys $47M parcel

A new community with about 20,000 homes near Casa Grande is planned by DR Horton on 6,700 acres the company recently bought for $47.2 million.

The land is bounded on the east by Casa Grande-Picacho Highway, on the west by Russell Road, on the north by Miller Road and on the south by Highway 84, according to a Tuesday announcement from broker Hogan & Associates in Tempe.

The seller was a joint venture between ASARCO, a subsidiary of Grupo de Mexico, and Freeport Copper Management of Indonesia.

The popularity of Casa Grande and the rest of Pinal County is one of central Arizona's future high-growth areas, according to the newest monthly report from housing analyst R.L. Brown, publisher of The Phoenix Housing Market Letter.

"The story continues across Pinal County, up the Hunt Highway, into Queen Creek and in Gilbert and Mesa, and we forecast it will continue for the rest of the decade," Brown writes in his newest monthly report.

The home building companies that "a year or two ago decried the new home activity in Pinal County as a flash in the pan have now signed on, with some of the largest land buys the region has seen in a decade," Brown said.

The region's other high-growth areas stretch west past Buckeye and northwest and north past Peoria into scenic areas Brown calls "the next Scottsdale."

In his report on November residential construction and sales, Brown said permits for new homes in metro Phoenix reached 4,761, down slightly from 4,850 issued in October but up 56 percent from the 3,054 issued in November 2003.

Through November, 56,170 housing permits were issued in the region, up nearly 31 percent from 42,975 issued for the first 11 months of 2003.

Brown is predicting an equally busy time in the resale market, too. He estimates the number of existing homes changing owners in 2004 will reach about 110,000. Through November, the resale total reached 102,890, up from 80,120 in 2003.

In Brown's newest monthly report, he predicts a yearly new-home permit total of 60,000, and "maybe even 62,000" by the time all of the December permits are tallied. He also is projecting continued growth for the region for several more years.

"We expect the metro Phoenix area to grow by over 100,000 people each of the next several years," Brown writes.

The new arrivals likely will include smaller households, including young and older singles, attracted to the region by "affordability of housing, favorable cost of living and weather," Brown said.

Housing upsurge continues in Valley

Max Jarman
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 24, 2004 12:00 AM

The Phoenix area continued to churn out new houses at a record pace in November in the face of a marked industry slowdown nationwide.

Builders in the red-hot metro area took out 4,761 new-home permits in November, a 56 percent increase over the same month last year, housing analyst R.L. Brown reported.

The relentless building kept the Valley on pace to top 60,000 permits for 2004, with 56,170 through November. The previous record of 47,720 set in 2003 has already been shattered.

Brown sees the boom continuing for three to five more years, fueled by state population and economic growth. Some concerns include labor shortages, the rising cost of materials and declining affordability for buyers with average incomes.

The Phoenix area earlier this year surpassed Atlanta as the most prolific home-building area in the country.

Brown reported that actual sales also continued strong in November, increasing 27 percent over the same month last year. The median price of a new home rose 15 percent, to $197,429 from $171,757 in November 2003.

The strength of the new-housing market is being felt across the Valley, Brown said

"No area is suffering: It's strong from the northwest Valley to Pinal County," he said.

The national market, however, may be slowing. On Thursday the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that new-home sales dropped 12 percent nationwide from October to November, the biggest drop in a decade. Sales in metro Phoenix rose 10 percent from October. The nation's median price fell 8 percent, to $206,300.

From the Arizona Real Estate Center - an affiliate of the L. William Seidman Research Institute in the Arizona State University College of Business at ASU's Main Campus. The Center collects and analyzes data concerning real estate in the Greater Phoenix metropolitan area. The Center is a comprehensive and objective source of real estate information for private, public and governmental agencies