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There were 3,682 new home closings last year and permits to build more homes rose to 4,183, a 12.8% increase over the previous year, data from the RL Brown year-end report shows.

After more than 6,000 new homes sold in 2007, the housing crash began until a steady climb started in 2013.

For historical perspective, during the wild run-up of homebuilding due to people taking risky loans, builders pulled 11,762 permits for new homes in 2005. Following the housing crash, the lowest point for homebuilders was 2011, when 1,438 permits were issued.

The recovery in the market since then has been at a healthy pace, said Jim Daniel, a local housing analyst with R.L. Brown.

The average new home price in 2024 was $479,855 — slightly less than the average new home price of $495,356 at the end of 2023. But the prices are expected to rise in the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ market and around the nation this year.

Demand for new homes is mainly being driven by the lack of existing houses coming onto the market, as more homeowners cling to lower mortgage rates and opt to add guesthouses or remodel.

The report noted that the resale market “continued to trudge along at a historical bottomâ€� with 13,939 sales for the year in the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ market, a 4.4% decrease from 2023.

No reduction in new home prices is expected in the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ market as the cost of labor, materials and land development are expected to go up, the report says.

Interest rates will remain near 7%, Redfin economists predict, which will result in more new home sales because the resale market will remain flat.

They also see 2025 becoming a renter’s market because of the rising cost of buying a new home, coupled with more rental inventory that should stabilize monthly rental costs.

The Gen Z generation is expected to cut homeownership from its goals and keep living with family or renting well into their 30s and build wealth in other ways, Redfin says.

New housing in the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ area is going up mainly on the city’s periphery, in almost every direction.

Major growth is happening in the southeast submarket, such as the Rincon Valley and Vail and north in Marana.

“You drive until you qualify,� Daniel said. “It’s going to continue to happen because that’s where the land is.�