Increased home sales and lower inventory continue to drive up housing costs in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Maricopa County’s median sales price is now $28,000 higher more than the national median.
Anubhav Bagley, analytics director for the Maricopa Association of Governments, said about 17% of buyers are international or from out of state.
“Out-of-state residents, buyers, are actually about 16-17% higher than in-state residents, and I don’t know how much of that is contributing to the price run up,” he said.
Less than 10 years ago, Bagley said about 90% of homes in Maricopa County sold for $300,000 or less. Now, it’s fewer than half.
Rental prices have increased even more sharply, he said. Ten years ago, about 90% of rentals in Maricopa County were under a thousand dollars a month. Today, it’s less than 30%, according to data Bagley shared with MAG’s Economic Development Committee.
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He said 478,000 households are spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs. The federal government defines a household as "housing burdened" if more than 30% of household income goes to housing costs.
“What’s very concerning at this time on this run up and the price increase really is 90 to 95% of these households that are paying this large percentage of their income are less than $60,000 and actually 50% of them are single worker households,” Bagley said.
Rental increases are not happening as much in the inner cities, he said. Prices are rising more in the submarkets like the southeast valley, West Valley and Deer Valley.
A recent study by the University of Arizona and the National Low Income Housing Coalition found between 121,372 and 274,000 Arizona households could be at risk of eviction this winter due to the pandemic and economic fallout.
