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$100.00 Per Barrel and Real Estate Trends

Light Rail test train in Phoenix Recently, oil hit a hundred bucks a barrel. While I am no expert in the oil business, I have watched many trends in the real estate market that are probably effected by this. It's no secret that the Phoenix area is known for sprawl and that we have lacked a major housing presence downtown. This months issue of Realtor Magazine had an interesting article titled, Growth OK If It's 'Smart.' One interesting quote was "more than 80 percent said they favor building communities so that people can walk more, and almost 90 percent favor providing public transportation, including rail and buses." This trend has been very popular in our market for the past few years and I can think of MANY projects that tout the "Live, Work and Play" environment. (The affordability issues might be good for a different post) For those of you that are not aware, Phoenix is building a new 20 mile Light Rail line that is scheduled to open at the end of this year. Heck, just along this route, I can think of several mixed use developments that are being built. This is certainly a trend to keep an eye on as it is changing downtown Phoenix and Tempe.

I wonder if the trend is as prevalent in other parts of the country? What about your neck of the woods??

Posted by Nick Bastian - Tempe, AZ Real Estate Agent on 01/04/2008 09:14 AM

Comments (3)

light rail, nick bastian, tempe real estate, phoenix real estate

3 Comments on $100.00 Per Barrel and Real Estate Trends

Only become somebody wanted to brag about buying the first barrel over $100 to his grandkids. The media does not tell this story they just try to scare us about the price of oil, not the truth. Its sad that you have to get news from the UK to get the real story. If the news media keeps up this we will be in a recession and the housing market will not rebound for a few years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7169543.stm

01/04/2008 09:47 AM

by Chris Frantz (Hernando County Real Estate - Exit Success Realy)

Nick,

In many markets we are indeed seeing a growth in "smart" development and neo-traditional developments. Lots of names all pointing to higher density and pedestrian friendly environments, but frankly the market wasn't rewarding these developers for trying. Now, perhaps, eco-friendly friendly and smart growth buyers will look to better designed communities for their homes.

01/04/2008 06:12 PM

by Steve Dalton - Northwest Indiana (First Financial Trust Mortgage )

Hi Steve - You make a great point. Here in Phx, the "green" or "eco-friendly" factor is discussed as well but simply being within walking distance to attractions might be very different. Maybe with the lack of a downtown for so long, a few local developers have learned their lesson? Time will tell. One of the biggest "Urban" developments is currently the $900 million CityScape plan that looks pretty interesting.

01/04/2008 09:16 PM

by Nick Bastian - Tempe, AZ Real Estate Agent (Realty Executives)

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