Chamber Business News
Metropolitan Phoenix could be on the verge of one of the worst housing squeezes in the nation as housing and rent prices continue to rise, leaving more people without a place to call home.
Exacerbating the issue? A real estate industry unable to build housing projects fast enough to meet demand, an extreme labor shortage, and spiking development costs, local real estate industry experts said.
It could get a lot worse.
“I refer to it as the perfect storm. It isn’t just building and labor costs, but building products have gone up, too, and, today, the most severe labor shortage is for lot development, the folks that put in the sewer, concrete curbs and gutters, dry utilities, everything underneath the house, and the infrastructure to get to and from the home site,” said Jim Belfiore, founder and president of residential market research firm Belfiore Real Estate Consulting in Phoenix.
