By Mike Bodeen · 26 December 2016
If We Thought 2016 Was Good…
And indeed, 2016 was a very good year for our Phoenix Metro area real estate communities. Oh, it wasn’t the most sales, or highest price appreciation years on record, but in our view, was even better.
Better because our modest (now) four year run up in value has continued in that vein – modest, consistent, steady, healthy. Sales and pricing is up, but foreclosures are down to 2001 pre-recession levels, the state’s average wage moved from 85 percent of the national average wage in 2008 to 96 percent of the average national wage in 2016.
…2017 Holds Great Possibilities
Our bullish outlook does not include a near term price bubble discussion. We are not like Seattle or the San Francisco Bay Area where both home prices and rents have skyrocketed. Our economy is growing. Arizona is a business-friendly state. Families can find affordable housing here and in greater degree, better paying jobs. This week we decide to share with you just a few of local articles that perhaps you’ve not seen.
“Everyone looking to grow or start a new business should know: Regardless of what business you’re in, your ingenuity and creativity have the opportunity to flourish in Arizona,” the governor said. “As this announcement shows, we can stand toe-to-toe in attracting the kind of good-paying manufacturing jobs that every state in the nation is hungry for.”
Arizona Governor plant Doug Ducey made these remarks recently as a California startup company will build a $700 million in Casa Grande to manufacture luxury electric vehicles. Read Full article here:
http://tucson.com/business/tucson/california-electric-car-company-to-build-m-plant-in-casa/article_a58ea2d4-cf95-51ef-b2fb-c04555b28974.html
“…More important, 2016 is the year that Arizona finally righted its economy to grow jobs first, rooftops second. Sorry Arizona economic traditionalists, our best economic minds — have been calling it out since 2014: This state no longer builds its way out of a recession. Eric Toll Phoenix Business Journal.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2016/12/19/2016-the-year-the-phoenix-economy-began-to-pivot.html
***General Motors, which developed a Technology Innovation Center in Chandler in 2014, promised 738 jobs in its deal to land incentives. By June 30, it had hired 617, and was paid $800,000 of its $1.3 million incentives.
***McPheters noted the state expected 66,000 new jobs for 2016 and may wind up closer to 76,000. “We’re expecting population growth is going to stay at about 1.6 percent. That’s almost exactly half our long-term average of 3.2 percent, but at the same time it’s double the national rate,” he said in an interview afterward.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2016/12/09/economic-development-creating-real-jobs-or-real.html