Phoenix is one of the Most Expensive Luxury Real Estate Markets (Scottsdale: appointed, condos)

[The Global Citizen]

Phoenix gets the publicity of being an affordable West Coast destination. But outside of those who know the market, there isn't a lot of talk of the Phoenix Metro being a place for the uber wealthy. I recently did some research on the most expensive "luxury" real estate markets. I used $5m+ as the criteria to define luxury. Combining raw land, multifamily and single family real estate, Phoenix Metro ranked 7th overall. Phoenix ranked 3rd amongst all metros including only condos and single family homes. Here's the breakdown of the Top 10 cities with $5m+ real estate listings:

NY - 1404 listings
LA - 624 listings
MIA - 327 listings
SF - 172 listings
HOU - 148 listings
SD - 128 listings
PHX - 124 listings
BOS - 85 listings
DC - 67 listings
DAL - 63 listings

People are parking money in the Phoenix metro in a historic, alarming rate. Story below summarizes the mindset.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-are...rb-11643904785

[DetroitN8V]

What makes that particularly “alarming”?

[The Global Citizen]

People don't usually talk about the Phoenix metro in the same vein they discuss SD, SF, Seattle, and DC wealth. This conversation indicates otherwise that Phoenix has an alarming amount of wealth.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by The Global Citizen

People don't usually talk about the Phoenix metro in the same vein they discuss SD, SF, Seattle, and DC wealth. This conversation indicates otherwise that Phoenix has an alarming amount of wealth.

I agree. Still not seeing what’s “alarming”.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by The Global Citizen

Phoenix gets the publicity of being an affordable West Coast destination. But outside of those who know the market, there isn't a lot of talk of the Phoenix Metro being a place for the uber wealthy.

I'd like to know the percentage of the uber-wealthy that are actual residents (pay their taxes to AZ). Obviously, having multiple homes can skew the statistics with quoted "average income" and other metrics. I'm seeing, tract homes on 10,000 square foot lots with gorgeous views fetch over $2M?! They were $1.2M two short years ago. They are jazzed up. But >$2M???? And 60% are paying cash in our neighborhood. Other homes are north of $3M on a larger lot and nicer home. AND, people are waiting in an l-o-n-g line to get that (small) piece of the pie. With my anecdotal evidence, most are in their 50s and nearly all are already retired. They are coming for the views and the ideal weather months.

Therefore, I bet the uber-wealthy simply has another home in the PHX metro area. Because they are not residents, they are not counted in the official metro demographics. In Scottsdale, the median (2019) family income was $79K https://www.city-data.com/income/inco...e-Arizona.html . That doesn't buy much these days. The average Scottsdale income is $134K. Obviously, a small percentage of people are pulling up that average income (versus median) >70%.

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

I agree. Still not seeing what’s “alarming”.

I bet he is talking about the massive amount of wealth that is held in a smaller amount of hands. Now, it's spread to PHX too. IMO, the wealth gap trend is very alarming. Often, the people in the USA complaining didn't mind our combined 25% wealth in the hands of 4% of the world's population. I'm not referring to the op, rather, the general mentality of Americans. In other words, all of us are less concerned when we are getting our unfairshare... I'm in that bucket and like many, I deeply care about our nuclear family: so long as we are doing well, it's tougher to take on the cause. Most people in the USA donate $50 every few years to feed the starving children in Africa. People sleep like a baby when they are crushing it as compared to people Sierra Leone or Congo. But the income disparity in the USA is "alarming".

[KurtAZ]

Define "alarming". A few years ago I was at a friend's home in N Scottsdale, most of the homes around his were all second (or third/fourth/fifth) homes owned by stock and commodity brokers. What exactly is "alarming" about wealthy people owning homes in the Metro Phoenix area?

FWIW...no Phoenix is not "affordable" anymore nor is it a "West Coast destination".

[Woody01]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

I bet he is talking about the massive amount of wealth that is held in a smaller amount of hands. Now, it's spread to PHX too. IMO, the wealth gap trend is very alarming. Often, the people in the USA complaining didn't mind our combined 25% wealth in the hands of 4% of the world's population. I'm not referring to the op, rather, the general mentality of Americans. In other words, all of us are less concerned when we are getting our unfairshare... I'm in that bucket and like many, I deeply care about our nuclear family: so long as we are doing well, it's tougher to take on the cause. Most people in the USA donate $50 every few years to feed the starving children in Africa. People sleep like a baby when they are crushing it as compared to people Sierra Leone or Congo. But the income disparity in the USA is "alarming".

You're right, it is just your opinion. I like the wealth gap.....people that are smarter and work harder/have better ideas should get their payback, and that makes some people wealthier than others...just the way it is, and should be. Frankly I'm disappointed that the USA has only 25% of the world's wealth...the way we roll we should have closer to 50%. IMO.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Woody01

You're right, it is just your opinion. I like the wealth gap.....people that are smarter and work harder/have better ideas should get their payback, and that makes some people wealthier than others...just the way it is, and should be. Frankly I'm disappointed that the USA has only 25% of the world's wealth...the way we roll we should have closer to 50%. IMO.

We agree in bold. I suspect pretty much everyone agrees with that statement too. But since the wealth gap is getting MUCH wider (1% of the population has more money than the bottom 50% and 89% of the stocks are held by the top 10%), people must be getting so much smarter and must be working way harder than they use to in order to economically kick the crap out of everyone else. More importantly, they are increasing their wealth!

I now work part-time (10-20 hours a week) and I am up $700K in housing alone over the past 1.5 years. Based on the "Woody principal", it must be because I am so much smarter and worked so much harder. lol That said and in full disclosure, you won't catch me giving it away out of compassion. So like a lot of people (as I typed earlier), I care deeply about my nuclear family.

About 70% of my neighbors are young and retired. It must be from all that hard work. Or could there be other reasons?

[wilberry]

Yay

[Tall Traveler]

Originally Posted by wilberry

Yay

Yippee-kai-yay!

This is no surprise to me, PV and Scottsdale have long been a favorite location for the wealthy, there are some gorgeous homes there.