By Catherine Reagor | The Arizona Republic
Today, the West Valley has the most land and the most home sales in the metro Phoenix housing market, but buyers aren’t choosing to live there just for the affordable big-box or retirement houses for which the area was known a decade ago.
People are buying houses that are mirror images of those in Scottsdale, north Phoenix or Chandler — but cost, in many cases, 25 to 50 percent less.
More than 34,000 houses were sold in the West Valley last year. That compares with about 33,000 in the southeast Valley, including Pinal County. The shift to the west is becoming a long-term trend: More houses have sold in the West Valley than the southeast Valley for the past five years.
