Arizona Home builders, neighbors offer stiff competition

The Arizona Republic reports:

Following decades of growth measured mostly in new prisons and mobile homes, any cooling hitting the Pinal County home market is a matter of perspective. And from the existing homeowner's perspective, it hurts.

After last year's record 18,749 single-family new-home building permits issued by Pinal County and its municipalities, 2006 is on pace to see 16,571 permits issued. Although at first blush that may seem to fit the perception of a cooling market, it still means more new homes in a single year than the county saw during some entire decades of the 20th century.

"This is a cooling like it was 113 degrees yesterday, and its 106 degrees today," said Jordan Rose, a development attorney with clients in Pinal County. "It's still burning hot in Pinal County."



But to get new residents into all those new homes, home builders have recently started slashing prices and offering perks from free pools to cabinet upgrades.

And existing residents, from the investors determined to still make big bucks to overleveraged homeowners who need to sell at a certain price, are feeling the fallout. It is now not uncommon for buyers to get a better deal on a new home than on the 2-year-old version of the same model down the street.

It make take some time for the market to absorb all these homes in Arizona.At least Arizona's gaining population.