South Pima News

Demand for housing is expected to surge in the latter part of the year and into 2021, according to experts canvassed by an Arizona business publication.

"The Arizona housing market stumbled late last year, with rising mortgage interest rates and lower confidence levels,” Jim Belfiore, founder and president of Belfiore Real Estate Consulting, told AZ Big Media. “Demand levels remain down year over year at the moment, but the delta between last year and this year has narrowed to its lowest level over the last few weeks."

He said they expect demand to surge in the second half of 2020 and in the spring of 2021, with the concern on the horizon being Arizona’s and the country’s ability to attract more workers into the labor market to fill newly created jobs.

Analysts do believe demand among millennials will remain flat, with Apartment List’s 2019 Millennials & Homeownership Report stating that 11 percent of renters in Metro Phoenix expecting to do so forever.

According to the same survey, 58 percent of those who do hope to buy a home have started saving.

Overall, however, the industry is confident 2020 will be a good year in the housing market, according to the news outlet. 

“We continue to believe in the strength of the apartment market in the Phoenix metropolitan area," Chapin Bell, president and CEO, said. "Our market continues to benefit from the job growth, population growth and household formation growth in Phoenix. Demographic trends and homebuilding trends also continue to help keep the wind in our sails."

Bruce E. Beverly, CEO, Great American Title Agency told AZ Big Media that Phoenix is becoming a top destination, especially for people living in high cost areas like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. He said Phoenix’s more reasonably priced housing, lower cost of living, available workforce and stable climate forecasts a growing economy and stronger housing growth in 2020, provided interest rates don’t rise too quickly.