A Billion Reasons To Be Thankful for Our Winter Visitors and Second Home Buyers
When it comes to the holiday season, there may be no better time to visit the Grand Canyon State and invest in Northeast Mesa.
Our winter visitors, or snowbirds as we like to call them, come from all over the United States and Canada too. The warm temperatures, sunny skies, golfing (more than 300 golf courses), shopping, healthcare, entertainment, and overall real estate affordability make Arizona a top destination for our winter visitors and our second-home buyers.
It’s estimated every year that our Canadian friends and snowbird visitors bring more than $1.4 billion to the Arizona economy, according to the Canada Arizona Business Council. The Grand Canyon state sees about 975,000 Canadian visitors each year. About 100,000 of them are residential tourists or snowbirds and on average, they spend $3,500 per month, according to the Canadian Snowbird Association.
It’s not just Canada, hundreds of thousands of visitors travel from various parts of the United States, including the Midwest every year, making a tremendous economic impact on the 48th state. This beautiful upswing in new cash hitting the market can also be felt in the Valley’s real estate market when these seasonal visitors often invest in a second home.
According to second home co-ownership site Pacaso, Maricopa County ranked No. 1 on the list for the Top Second Home Destinations followed by counties in South Carolina and Florida. Yes, we finally beat Florida on a list!
Taking a deeper look into Northeast Mesa’s Las Sendas community, the contributions of snowbirds continue at an impressive rate. According to The Cromford Report in the 85207 zip code in 2023, there were 17.6 percent second home purchasers in Q1, 16.4 percent in Q2, and 6.9 percent in Q3. Current Q4 data will be out shortly. Traditionally snowbird and second home purchasers are more active in Q1 and Q4, when the temperatures are favorable in Arizona.
Overall recent trends and sales in Las Sendas also indicate the market is moving in a more upward direction than this time last year. Further proof — Arizona’s luxury leader Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty also recently represented the seller of the highest-priced home to close in Mesa’s history at $6 million last month. Indeed 2023 has been a record year.
With a stronger stock market, the Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index is also indicating that house prices have been climbing over the past several months. We are also now seeing the first signs that demand is also starting to recover, thanks to lower mortgage rates that finally began to drop in November and continue to fall this December. While the rates are still not optimal for some, those with cash and those second-home purchasers, who don’t have to rely on financing, will continue to buy up the available inventory. Northeast Mesa’s average price per square foot is also higher this year than this time last year, adding to a stronger overall real estate market.
Finally, as we move further into the holiday season, supply typically weakens, which means now may be the best time to sell. The snowbirds are coming and so is the most beautiful time of the year.
Since the early 2000s, Jennifer Sturgeon has called the Valley and its beautiful scenery home. As a former Emmy Award Winning Television News Reporter, Jennifer has grown a network of influential media contacts, friends, and clients. A resident of Northeast Mesa, Jennifer covers a tremendous amount of terrain every day servicing clients. When she’s not personally showcasing properties on television or in person, Jennifer is also proud to lead Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty public relations team in promoting all the brokerage’s fine properties and family of agents and owners.
Jennifer can be reached at (480) 495-3806 or by email at jennifer.sturgeon@russlyon.com. License # SA658842000.