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Californians Flock to Phoenix for Bargains
Daily Real Estate News - April 24, 2007Californians are packing up and moving to Arizona — where bargain hunters can still buy their dream house for less than $300,000.
"Housing isn't cheap in Phoenix compared to what it was. But it's still cheap compared to California," says R.L. Brown, publisher of the Phoenix Housing Market Letter. "We're averaging 9,000 Californians a month changing their [driver's] licenses to Arizona. To me, that's a phenomenal number."
February's median home price in Los Angeles County was $528,000, while in the Phoenix area it was $253,000.
Jobs also are plentiful in Arizona. Unemployment runs on average about 4.2 percent, says Barry Broome, CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, and "would be lower, but we add 100,000 to 130,000 people each year."
Source: Los Angeles Times, Maria L. La Ganga and Doug Smith (04/24/07)