Based on the latest findings from Grand Canyon Title VP, Fletcher Wilcox, the leadership and residents of Fountain Hills have some tough decisions to make.

Wilcox puts out an annual report exploring real estate market trends from the previous year and, based on data he’s been tracking for quite a while, gives his predictions for the year ahead.

His report offers a lot of information to chew through, but the 2020 findings offer a handful of key takeaways. In short, Maricopa County is low on housing inventory and high on demand. The result of that is low interest rates, but higher costs for those looking to own or rent.

As noted in our 1A coverage, Maricopa County is a huge national draw at the moment, with about 222 people moving into the county per day. It’s the number one destination in the country three years running with Wilcox predicting that trend will continue this year as well.

That’s a huge opportunity, but there’s also a bit of a monkey wrench thrown into the mix. New housing construction has been slow to get rolling following the recession, which means there isn’t enough housing to go around. As Wilcox explains, that’s why you see so many new apartment buildings going up around the Valley. People want to live here, and now developers are scrambling to meet that need.

Fountain Hills is a microcosm of Maricopa County, but with one noticeable difference. The most recent year’s results show that there wasn’t a huge change in people moving in and out of the community. One of the issues is that lack of inventory the Wilcox report is touting. There’s a bit of development locally, but not much. There are those who feel the town should move forward with available development opportunities as well as those who feel the building needs to come to a halt. There are also those who argue development is fine so long as it’s the right kind of development, but then the conversation segregates further over what, exactly, is “right” for the community.

People are flooding into Maricopa County by the day. The question is whether or not, and how, Fountain Hills wants to take advantage of that opportunity.