While we all dream of a 5-minute commute, those looking to live close to their employment may find housing is just too expensive. These buyers are often willing to trade a slightly longer commute for a more spacious home and better quality of life, especially if their employers allow remote or hybrid work.
Perhaps that’s why Gladden Farms has been welcoming more and more residents from Casa Grande and Phoenix. At Gladden Farms, they get significantly more for their money thanks to affordable new home pricing starting in the upper $200Ks.
Indeed, Zillow reports that a homebuyer can expect to pay 20 percent more for a home in Phoenix than in Tucson. According to Redfin, the median sales price of a home in Phoenix in 2023 is $425K, compared to Tucson’s median home sale price of $323K. All too often, Phoenix’s higher home prices keep first-time buyers out of the market.
Another factor that brings buyers from Casa Grande and Phoenix to our area is low housing inventory. In April 2023, Arizona’s Department of Housing cautioned that Arizona is short 270,000 housing units, making it harder for everyday people to find homes. This lack of inventory drives home prices up.
Construction of new homes is helping to ease the housing crunch by adding inventory to the market. At Gladden Farms, our award-winning national homebuilders have kept pace with homebuyer demand, opening five new neighborhoods from 2022 to 2023 and creating hundreds of new construction home opportunities. Our builders also offer homes priced right and configured to meet the needs of families, young professionals, empty nesters and retirees.
Gladden Farms homebuyers from Casa Grande and Phoenix can enjoy easy access to 1-10 for commuting to new regional employers like Lucid Motor, Nikola Corp and LCY Chemicals. These commutes, depending on traffic, are roughly 40 to 60 minutes one way.
Perhaps what tips the scale between paying more to live closer or commuting longer distances is the quality of life where you live.
Phoenix buyers especially appreciate Gladden Farms’ peaceful feel and abundant green spaces, a welcome reprieve from city congestion. Voted a top-10 master-planned community by Ranking Arizona, Gladden Farms is known for its diverse and welcoming neighborhoods and incredible array of community-wide amenities, including 19 parks, miles of landscaped paseos connecting to scenic trails, 14 playgrounds, playfields, a splash pad, picnic and BBQ areas, a new dog park and two new lighted soccer fields. Living in the town of Marana is also a plus — it’s well-planned and safe, offering a small-town feel plus proximity to shopping, employment, healthcare and recreational attractions.
But if you ask a resident what they like most about Gladden Farms, you’re bound to hear it’s the true sense of community they’ve found here — a place where “your neighbors are your friends,” and residents are proud that “we look out for each other.” We encourage interested homebuyers to discover our “safe and welcoming community” and explore whether a new home at Gladden Farms could be the right fit, now and into the future.