By Katya Schwenk | Phoenix New Times
Phoenix realtor Brian Cross has been distributing bumper stickers lately, with a warning: “Don’t LA My PHX.”
But the trend has already begun. Phoenix is in the middle a real estate boom of extreme proportions, drawing headlines alongside cities like Austin, Texas, for its spiking home prices. One economist termed it “migration mania” — movement spurred by the pandemic, which has flooded housing markets with investors and out-of-state buyers.
The trend may be lucrative for real estate agents and sellers, but concerns are rising about long-term consequences for the city. On neighborhood forums like Nextdoor, Phoenix residents are begging neighbors not to sell their houses to investors and flippers, worrying that they will price out locals and “rip out the historic character” of homes, as one Midtown resident wrote on July 13. Cross’s bumper stickers have begun appearing on cars.
