By Angela Gonzales | Phoenix Business Journal
While home affordability is in focus in the Valley as overall home prices continue to rise — the result of demand and the still-surging area economy — an analysis of the region’s homebuilding efforts shows the number of new residences built or in the pipeline is on the rise.
Using sales and permit data, the publisher of RL Brown Housing Reports looked at which companies are building the most affordable homes in metro Phoenix, focusing on builders with overall average closing prices of less than $300,000.
“The analysis shows there are a number of builders who are specializing in affordable housing in the metro Phoenix marketplace,” RL Brown said.
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One of the homebuilders on the list is Newport Beach, California-based Landsea Homes, which recently moved its division headquarters office to Scottsdale.
Peter Beucke, Landsea’s division president for Arizona, said he has several projects in the works, including a Goodyear community called Centerra, which has more than 250 home sites. Plans call for opening that community by the end of this year.
“We have a couple of others we are hoping to put up for sale in 2020, one being in Queen Creek at The Harvest master plan and we’ve got another one in north central Phoenix probably toward the middle end of next year,” he said.
In addition to those not included in the RL Brown list, there are a number of major homebuilders also building affordable housing products in the Valley. Some are not listed because they have broad product-price ranges and their average overall closing price is greater than the $300,000 criteria used in the analysis, Brown noted.
“Over the last year or more, both major and minor homebuilders in the region have repositioned products and do what can be considered affordable new housing,” he said.
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