Phoenix metro home values grew by 13.5% in 2020

PHOENIX — Phoenix metro home values gained $67 billion last year – a 13.5% growth – making it the 14th-most valuable in the country, according to online real-estate list service Zillow.

Arizona wasn’t the only place in the country to see home values increase in 2020.

The nation as a whole reported the greatest home value growth since before the great recession.

“That may be surprising in the context of a pandemic and a recession and tremendous job losses,” Jeff Tucker, Zillow senior economist, told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

Jobs coming back helped and first-time buyers – especially millennials – seized low mortgage rates.

“Our forecast shows home price appreciation staying really strong at least late into 2021,” Tucker said.

That is unless mortgage rates rise, cooling values and sales before then.

Tucker, however, doesn’t see declines in the short term.

“More in the medium term, it just has to slow down,” Tucker said. “We can’t have a double-digit price appreciation in the value of housing stock every year.”

Zillow calculates Phoenix metro housing stock at $563 billion, part of a nationwide value of $36.2 trillion.

The number is found by taking public sale data of homes and applying it to neighboring homes.

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