Phoenix Retirement Community Market Report March 2022
Home values surge close to 25 percent in Phoenix retirement communities. Over the last 12 months, homeowners have seen their house equity grow substantially. If you bought your home a year ago, in March, your home value increased on average around 25%. This is also true for those buying new and building. It’s not unusual to have significant equity a year later when you move in. So now let’s explore the first quarter 2022 Phoenix Retirement Community home value update for individual communities. There might be a surprise or two.
Average Sales Prices and home value changes
The table below shows average sales prices for 2022 and 2021, along with the change in home values for the top 10 phoenix retirement communities I work in. Every single community had equity increases. No surprise, Sun City, the largest and oldest retirement community, had the lowest average sales price at $310,404. Victory at Verrado, a newer community in Buckeye, had the highest average sales price at $712,590. Trilogy at Vistancia came in at number two at $695,207. Both communities are still building homes. New build prices have gone up every few months as costs rise for the builders. Everything from wood, cabinets, appliances, and HVAC has gone up. This, in turn, drives up prices for the buyers. Some builders have escalation clauses that increase the price of the home if costs go up a certain percentage.
* Data includes resale and spec homes, not new builds, so communities building new will have higher home value increases than shown.
Retirement Communities
#1 Victory at Verrado**
#2 Corte Bella
#3 Sun City West
#4 PebbleCreek**
#5 Sun City Grand
#6 CantaMia**
#7 Sun City
#8 Sun City Festival**
#9 Trilogy at Vistancia**
#10 Arizona Traditions
Copy Right 2022
Sharon Rowlson
**Stats from AZ MLS. Info deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
Although the average home value increase was 25% for the last 12 months, the actual range was 18% to 30% for the 10 communities. Arizona Traditions had the lowest home value increase of 17.90%. Still a nice chunk of equity for one year. Victory at Verrado came in at the high with a 30.39% increase. Over the past 12 months, building wealth as a homeowner far outweighed the losses in the stock market.
Where are home values headed?
So, where do I see pricing and home values headed? We still have very low inventory, and bidding wars are a normal part of the buying process for now. As home values go up, some buyers are being priced out of the market. You add to that interest rates going up fast, stock market volatility, and the war in Ukraine, I don’t see prices going down but perhaps stabilizing. The snowbirds are also returning home, so perhaps a bit less competition, but many buyers buy site unseen. They know the community they want, they understand the market, and they have an agent like me who will visit the house and walk them through every room. Time will tell, wish I had a crystal ball.
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