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Business Title: Arizona homebuilders buying up land Homebuilders are buying land again in metropolitan Phoenix. So far this year, according to the Arizona brokerage firm Land Advisors, homebuilders here have spent $90 million on land purchases for new homes. That's the most builders have invested in the region's land in any year since the peak of the housing boom in 2006. New land purchases are a sign the cycle is stirring to life again in a retooled housing industry. The parcels of land and the pool of builders buying them are both much smaller than before the real- estate crash. But residential lot prices are climbing as a steady stream of purchases by builders the past six months restarts the region's new-home industry. Home building had a predictable pattern in the Phoenix area prior to the 2007 housing-market crash. Builders bought lots in the newest edge communities, built and sold homes and then bought more lots. Big builders bought land years ahead of construction. The crash disrupted that pattern and left builders with unsold homes and vacant lots. Houses and lots were sold off at sale prices. Some builders lost large parcels of land to foreclosure. Other builders slid into bankruptcy or simply closed. Home building slowed to levels not seen since the 1970s. Builders who survived the crash have cut operating and building costs and are trying to eke out smaller profits on fewer home sales. Many of the big builders have cash to spend on land again but are buying only what they can sell homes on quickly. Federal aid from a new tax break and a shift by homebuyers away from foreclosures are also driving the recent land purchases. "Builders are buying Phoenix-area land now because they expect to make money on it in the near future," said Arizona home-building analyst RL Brown. "Builders are more optimistic about the housing market now, but the smart ones are still being very cautious." Land The $90 million in recent land purchases by builders reveals new trends and different hot spots for the new-home market stirring back to life in Phoenix. Homebuilders are more selective now, buying fewer lots and in specific target areas. Sites closer to Phoenix's core and near freeways are drawing the highest prices. Builders want lots prepped and ready for new homes for faster, less-expensive turnaround in the buy-build-sell cycle. "Most builders now will buy 50 to 100 lots in a development, instead of the 200 lots they would have purchased before the boom," said Nate Nathan, president of Scottsdale-based land brokerage firm Nathan & Associates. "Builders have adapted to the new market reality in Phoenix. The profit margins are tight." Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert, land brokers say, are now the hot spots for homebuilders. Lot prices in those southeast Valley communities have almost tripled in the past two years. Home sites are selling for more than $80,000 in parts of Chandler, prices similar to what builders paid in the pre-boom years of 2003-04. More than 50 percent of metro Phoenix's new-home sales during April were in Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert. Developments along the Interstate 17 corridor north to Anthem and in Avondale and Goodyear in the West Valley are also popular with builders. Land prices in these areas are climbing as well, but lots are still typically selling for below $40,000. Parcels in metro Phoenix's most far-flung communities including Buckeye west of the White Tank Mountains and the Pinal County communities of Coolidge and Eloy aren't drawing a lot of builder attention now. The areas are too far out for most current buyers because their tastes have changed, no matter how inexpensive new homes are priced.
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Boycott my ass. AZ will boom now.
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Yep. Had friends in recently from Arizona and they all fully supported the new law. Its also interesting to note Brewer, who was on her way to being fired by voters in her next election, is now way over 60% approval there.
Just 10 days prior to the explosion, the Obama administration’s regulators gave the oil rig a pass, and last year the Obama administration granted BP a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) exemption for its drilling operation.
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