Census report: housing growth centered in west and south

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U.S. Census data shows that Arizona's housing market is one of the hottest in the country. In Maricopa, home values rose 33 percent in the last year alone. {Jay Taylor]

The nation’s housing stock grew by some 1.3 million units, or 1%, between July 2020 and July 2021, reaching a total of 142.2 million homes, according to a report issued Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The number of homes grew 0.8% in the 2019 to 2020 period.

Arizona was one of 16 states where the housing market grew at a rate of 1% to 1.9% over that period. Nearly all the fastest-growing states are in the west or south, the exceptions being Minnesota and Delaware.

Maricopa County was the second-highest U.S. county with 29,935 housing units added during that period.

The Arizona housing market continues to accelerate, with home prices up 24.1% year-over-year in April 2022. At the same time, the number of homes sold fell 8.4% and the number of homes for sale fell 3.3%. The median price of a home in the state is now $463,100, according to real estate website Redfin.

Closer to home, Redfin said that in April 2022, Maricopa home prices were up 32.9% compared to last year, selling for a median price of $410,000. On average, homes in Maricopa sell after 31 days on the market compared to 22 days last year. There were 261 homes sold in April this year, up from 186 in April 2021.

The city of Maricopa currently has 24,345 completed single-family homes. In addition, the city has another 46,055 entitled units, for a total of 70,400. Using the city’s formula of 3.2 residents per dwelling unit, that would raise Maricopa’s population to 225,280 without another home or apartment being approved.

California had the largest number of housing units at 14.5 million in July 2021, followed by Texas (11.9 million) and Florida (10.1 million). The states with the fewest housing units were Wyoming with 274,400 and Alaska with 327,900.

Utah was the fastest-growing market in number of housing units, adding 2.7% between July 2020 and July 2021. Idaho (2.5%) and Texas at (2%) rounded out the top three markets.

The states with the slowest housing growth were Rhode Island and Illinois at 0.2% and West Virginia at 0.3%.