Paradise Valley is a bright spot even in the current market conditions

The first article, Home construction remains solid in P.V., from the Arizona Republic, reports that home construction in Paradise Valley, the area's priciest market, is strong with 50 new home permits issued by the town through June, compared with 54 for the same period in 2006 and 55 in the same period of 2005. Paradise Valley, also known for tear downs of existing homes to build new mansions, also issued 35 home-demolition permits for the first half of the year, up 17 percent from 2006. That reflects a dwindling supply of vacant lots in Paradise Valley. Paradise Valley is a bright spot in an overall market that has seen permits fall 23 percent for the first half of 2007, according to the Phoenix Housing Market Letter published by local housing analyst R.L. Brown. Karl Stauffer, an associate broker with Sonoran Properties GMAC Real Estate, said luxury markets such as Paradise Valley "have been steadily grinding along." He is not alarmed at the residential-market slowdown. "Yes, it's bad medicine, but it's medicine we have to take in order for the patient to get healthy in the long term," Stauffer said.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/nephoenix/articles/0802sr-biz0803realestate-ON.html

Planners merge to discuss transportation, from the Arizona Republic, reports that Pinal County officials met Thursday to discuss improving its transportation system so it can accommodate the expected 1.9 million residents expected by 2025. "We need regional connectivity to our community centers, cities and towns and other counties," said Andy Smith, transportation planner for Pinal County. Roads in the area are already reaching capacity from the last five years of growth, which added about 100,000 new residents to the county. Regional leasers say transportation planning is also important as the county is expected to connect Phoenix and Tucson into a "megapolitan"-- a super-sized metro area estimated to have about 10 million residents by 2040. Pinal is now the sixth fastest growing county in the nation.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/0802gr-bypass02-ON.html