Long-Awaited Development Putting Arizona Housing Market to the Test

Sales have finally started at the long-anticipated Fulton Ranch housing development in South Chandler, Az., just as the Valley is experiencing a significant slowdown in the fast-cooling Arizona housing market.

Fulton Ranch, the city’s last major master-planned development, was conceived several years ago when the market for new homes was red hot.

A year ago, it boasted a waiting list of 14,000 potential buyers interested in the lake community, where houses will sell from the high $500,000s to more than $1 million. But as home mortgages have gotten more expensive in the last few months, home buying conditions have changed.

Dennis Webb, vice president of operations of the developer, Fulton Homes, said the waiting list has since been whittled down to about 1,800 by insisting on pre-qualification of buyers and reconfirming their interest.

“Interest is still there because I think it is a very desirable location, even though the market is not what it was a year ago. People still want to live there,” Webb told the Arizona Republic.

The biggest challenge now is that many potential buyers have to sell their existing homes first. Bill Ryan, a real estate broker in Chandler, predicts many people will still buy at Fulton Ranch because the homes are closer in than Queen Creek or Maricopa, and Fulton Ranch is in a popular area. But he says the real estate developer probably won’t get the “rampage” of sales it expects.

“It takes pretty strong income to be able to afford homes in the $500,000 or $400,000-plus range,” he said.

Fulton Ranch will have 620 single-family homes, 300 condos and townhouses and 64 custom homes in the square mile between Arizona Avenue and Alma School Road, and Ocotillo and Chandler Heights roads. Buyers will be able to move into the houses starting next summer.

There’s one buyer who won’t be deterred by shifting Arizona mortgage rates. Ira Fulton, multimillionaire founder and chief executive officer of Fulton Homes, also is building his future home there, a 17,000-square-foot custom lakefront mansion.

Fulton Homes is now building model homes in each of its two main Fulton Ranch communities: Gallery and Aegean Cove. The developer also has begun releasing two lots a week for sale in the Gallery community, which will have the smaller and less-expensive homes, 2,300 to 4,300 square feet and starting at about $525,000.

Unlike a traditional master-planned community, Fulton Ranch will not have its own golf courses. The focus will be on open space, lakes and bridges — the theory being that 20 percent of the population plays golf, but 100 percent enjoys open space.