By Mike Sunnucks | Rose Law Group Reporter
For decades the city of Phoenix has tried to bolster South Phoenix and the South Mountain area.
Those efforts are bearing some fruit.
Jim Belfiore, president of Belfiore Real Estate Consulting, is seeing a marked increase in new home sales in the South Phoenix market.
“Sales are booming. In the last two months an average of 81 homes have sold monthly,” said Belfiore, a regional real estate expert.
He said that compares to previous months where 35 homes were selling monthly.
Belfiore said numerous home builders are active in the South Phoenix market including Lennar, Maracay Homes, Pulte, Beazer Homes and Frank Residential.
“It’s a very diverse market,” Belfiore said of the price points and home offerings in the South Phoenix, South Mountain areas.
New home prices range from $187,000 condos to upper end $624,000 single-family homes. Belfiore said developments such as Maracay’s Avance at Seventh Street and Dobbins Road are performing well.
So what is driving the gains and more home buyers considering South Phoenix?
Belfiore points to year improvements along Baseline Road, some of which date back to the early 2000s.
“They made it more appealing for development to come,” Belfiore said.
That brought retailers and grocery stores. And the area’s proximity to South Mountain gives it an aesthetic appeal.
That coupled with a reasonable price point and diversity of product is drawing more interest from prospective buyers looking for proximity to downtown and central Phoenix or Tempe.
Belfiore notes 20 years ago many home buyers would not have considered South Phoenix and the northside of South Mountain in their home searches. That has changed.
“I think it’s proximity. It’s price point,” Belfiore said of South Phoenix jump in housing demand.
