Phoenix ranks No. 2 city to watch going into 2024, a jump from previous year – The Business Journals

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Phoenix is once again one of the hottest real estate markets in the U.S. as the region continues to attract new residents by the masses, according to a new Urban Land Institute study released this week.
This year, Phoenix was ranked the second top market to watch for overall real estate prospects in 2024 — behind Nashville and just above Dallas-Forth Worth in the Emerging Trends in Real Estate Report for 2024.
Phil Briedenbach, a senior executive vice president with Colliers International in Phoenix, said the fundamentals of Phoenix — including the climate and a pro-business and growth attitude from the state — has kept Phoenix a high-growth city.
The investments in Phoenix by companies such as Intel Corp., LG Energy Solution, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and others also “sends a message to the world that there’s opportunity here,” he said.
“We’ve still got people moving here, and those people need a place to stay and live and shop,” Briedenbach said. “So that continues to drive growth. Regardless of what the economy and stock market are doing, those companies keep coming.”
Although the industrial sector has slowed down from the breakneck speed it experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic, experts say it’s still seeing healthy activity in the Valley. Phoenix’s retail market is also seeing the lowest vacancies on record even as major power centers are being developed for the first time in years.
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Phoenix was grouped with Atlanta, Dallas-Forth Worth, Houston, Miami, San Antonio and Tampa/St. Petersburg as “super” Sun Belt and magnet market categories by ULI. Super Sun Belt markets are considered large and diverse but also still affordable with emerging powerhouse economies.
Phoenix and its surrounding suburbs have been repeatedly named some of the fastest-growing cities in the nation in recent years, according to Census Bureau estimates. In the same ULI report, Phoenix was also ranked in the top 15 markets for homebuilding prospects, coming in at No. 12 compared to the 13th spot last year.
Environmental concerns including heat waves and water shortages have not deterred growth in regions like Phoenix, the study noted.
“Households consider a range of factors when deciding where to live, and climate risks do not yet rank highly for many people,” the report said. “Consider that Phoenix jumped seven places this year to the second overall position, and Las Vegas cracked the top 20 for the first time in at least a decade.”
The newest ranking is a return for Phoenix to the top three markets to watch after it fell to the ninth hottest market for 2023. The No. 3 ranking the previous year was the first time in more than a decade that Phoenix ranked in the top 10 for real estate prospects.
Tucson was also listed in the report as the 76th hottest market to watch for overall real estate prospects in 2024.
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