The Valley’s real estate market can be as hot as its summer temperatures, and has been an integral part of Metro Phoenix’s growth in the last 15 years to twelfth-largest metropolitan area in the country. When the real estate market slows, the region’s entire economy feels it, which is why a healthy real estate market is of such concern to those who study the economy.
What is currently going on in single family housing is similar to what happens to any retailer or manufacturer that finds itself with an excess of a product in the face of slow demand. It cuts production and reduces prices in order to get the excess off the shelf. In other words, it puts the product on sale. And prices are reduced until the excess supply is gone. Once that happens, the sale is over and, in the face of increasing demand, prices begin to rise. Then, production increases. That describes the housing market. Prices for existing homes declined far below production costs. The inventory moved. As the (slow) economic recovery continued, demand picked up and the excess supply was absorbed.
With a brief look at how this process played out in the last few decades’ boom and bust cycles, Amy Handler delves into the present real estate market in her cover story “Phoenix Rising: Is Our Housing Market Heating Up?” Experts that include real estate professionals, real estate and tax attorneys and other economists provide insights on market growth, the impact of new federal regulations, and how to recognize and avoid fraud so that there are no false positives and negatives in market trends.
Also in this issue, Eric Jay Toll takes the pulse of the banking sector, a popular scapegoat in the struggling economy but one that has its own challenges in today’s marketplace. Don Rodriguez explores the initiative of the Arizona Leadership Forum. Attorneys at Lewis and Roca wrap up their three-part business education series with a feature on key aspects of contract law for small and medium-sized businesses.
A special section profiling leaders in commercial real estate opens with an article that explores changing dynamics in the business community from a foundation of financial, insurance and real estate companies to businesses in the realms of intellectual capital, energy and education, and how that impacts the commercial real estate office market.
With relevant information on a broad range of topics, In Business Magazine is a valuable resource for those vested in business, from entrepreneurs in start-ups to corporate executives. I hope you enjoy this month’s issue; I’m pleased to be part of it.
Sincerely,
Elliott D. Pollack
Chief Executive Officer
Elliott D. Pollack and Company
Elliott D. Pollack is CEO of Elliott D. Pollack and Company, an economic and real estate consulting firm in Scottsdale, Ariz., established in 1987. The firm serves a broad range of clients in the public and private sectors, ranging from law firms, utilities, banks, retailers, major service firms and real estate-related companies to states, counties, Native American communities, cities and universities, for both business and policy issues. The firm maintains the most comprehensive economic database in Arizona.
A widely sought-after consultant and speaker, Pollack is respected by local, state and national news media as an expert source for economic and real estate matters.
