By Angela Gonzales | Phoenix Business Journal
Homes are selling so quickly at the Lakes at Rancho El Dorado that prices are now in the high $200,000s, up from the mid $200,000s when Scottsdale-based Meritage Homes Corp. announced the opening a month ago.
“Price increasing is due to demand, but more so rapidly increasing building costs,” said Fred Hermann, Phoenix division president of Meritage Homes.
Jim Belfiore, founder of Belfiore Real Estate Consulting, said home prices continue to rise at an almost inconceivable pace across metro Phoenix, with builders raising projected startup prices multiple times in many cases before offering homes for sales.
“Without more supply becoming available, my personal forecast of 12% to 15% appreciation this year — for the second consecutive year — may be eclipsed by an even larger rise,” Belfiore said.
Phoenix topped the nation in home price growth in December, reporting a 14.4% year-over-year gain at a time when the national increase was 10.4%, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices released late last month.
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