Buyers looking for more home for their buck
continue to head farther out.
Once-remote areas such as Lake Pleasant and New River to the north, Buckeye
to the west and Pinal County to the southeast are emerging housing hot spots
for the Greater Phoenix area. Land and construction fees are typically
cheaper so builders can sell larger homes for less than they do in more
centralized Valley suburbs.
"People are going farther out to find values," Arizona housing analyst R.L.
Brown said. "They wouldn't make the drives if it wasn't worth it to them."
New and proposed Valley freeways are making these fringe developments more
accessible, but some buyers still spend almost an hour in their cars to get
to work.
Debbie McDonough drives almost 34 miles each
way from her home in the east Mesa community of Power Ranch to her job at
44th Street and Thomas, but said the commute is worth the house and
amenities they were able to afford.
"We were renting a small home in McDowell Ranch and paying more than we are
for our own mortgage now," Debbie said. Her husband, Jim, commutes to
Scottsdale, but she said newer Valley freeways such as the Loop 101 make
getting around much easier.
A large, new home in Mesa costs at least $100,000 less than one in
Scottsdale. Power Ranch at Queen Creek and Power roads was the edge of the
East Valley when it opened a few years ago, but now home buyers are going
even farther out. Yvonne Lehon lives in Johnson Ranch, about 10 miles
southeast of Queen Creek on Hunt Highway, and works in an apartment leasing
office in south Phoenix.
But the former New York City resident said the house she was able to afford
is more than worth the drive.
"I love it out here," said Lehon, who bought a three-bedroom home. "At night
I lay out on my hammock and look at the stars. The air so clear."
Houses in Johnson Ranch started selling for as low as $80,000. The median
price of a new Valley home is double that. Those bargain prices also enticed
buyers to Casa Grande and the town of Maricopa.
But in the southwest Valley, the once-sleepy little town of Buckeye is
poised to become even larger. It has recently annexed enough land to make it
the second-largest city, after Phoenix, in terms of geographic size. Plans
are under way for as many as 160,000 homes around the White Tank Mountains.
The 8,800-acre development called Verrado is launching Buckeye's growth. The
developer, which has produced the high-end Scottsdale community DC Ranch,
plans to construct 14,000 homes and have 30,000 residents there.
"You will see a continual exodus of buyers out to the southeast and
southwest parts of the Valley," said Steve Davis, president of KB Home
Phoenix.
In the north, Del Webb expanded the borders of the Valley to the edge of New
River when it opened its Anthem development in the late 1990s. Buyers
flocked to the project, and Webb sold more than 1,000 homes the first year.
Since then, other housing developments have filled in the desert south of it
along Interstate 17 and Carefree Highway.
More than 100,000 homes are planned or under way in the area north of Happy
Valley Road extending from Seventh Street west to 115th Avenue.
On the western end, 7,000 acres of former Baptist Foundation land is
sprouting two large communities. Between it and I-17, a checkerboard of new
developments is under way. On the eastern side of the interstate, Anthem,
Tramonto, Sonoran Foothills and Dynamite Mountain Ranch have new homes
selling for $500,000 and up.
"People continue to move to the Valley," said John Graham, president of
Sunbelt Holdings, which owns Johnson Ranch as well as developments near Lake
Pleasant and in the southwest near Buckeye. "They want to buy homes they can
afford or that have the lifestyles they want. That's why the Valley is
growing."
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 2, 2003