AZ Real Estate Market Update - Appreciation #'s vs. Other Cities

It is the time of the month for the S&P/Case-Shiller® Home Price Index® numbers and this month's release covers sales between May and July 2016. Month over month changes look like this:

1. Portland +1.16%
2. Chicago +0.92%
3. Denver +0.89%
4. Detroit +0.83%
5. Phoenix +0.78%
6. Tampa +0.73%
7. Dallas +0.68%
8. San Diego +0.65%
9. Boston +0.64%
10. Minneapolis +0.64%
11. Los Angeles +0.58%
12. Seattle +0.56%
13. New York +0.55%
14. Las Vegas +0.52%
15. Cleveland +0.50%
16. Miami +0.41%
17. Atlanta +0.39%
18. Washington DC +0.37%
19. Charlotte +0.35%
20. San Francisco -0.02%

Phoenix is much higher up this list than it has been for many months. Portland and Denver continue their very strong run, while Chicago and Detroit have improved to join them. Seattle and San Francisco are showing unexpected weakness compared with the recent past.

The year over year table looks like this:

1. Portland +12.40%
2. Seattle +11.19%
3. Denver +9.42%
4. Dallas +8.33%
5. Tampa +7.76%
6. Miami +7.05%
7. San Diego +6.03%
8. San Francisco +6.01%
9. Los Angeles +5.50%
10. Las Vegas +5.39%
11. Detroit +5.34%
12. Charlotte +5.33%
13. Atlanta +5.28%
14. Phoenix +5.19%
15. Minneapolis +4.99%
16. Boston +4.20%
17. Chicago +3.71%
18. Cleveland +2.45%
19. Washington DC +2.02%
20. New York +1.74%

Phoenix is looking less impressive in this longer term view. Portland, Seattle and Denver are the top three as usual. These are all primary destinations for millennials.

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So why Portland, Seattle and Denver? If you Google the question you find that there is a well-documented and discussed trend over the last several years of millenials targeting 'mid-size' cities they consider 'hip' places to live and where they would like to work.

I suppose the local equivalent in the Valley might be Arcadia, for those who can afford it. 

I wonder if our local chamber of commerce and other associations in the business of attracting (young) people to Arizona cities are paying attention to this - the opportunity to 'market' the amazing lifestyle appeal are fair cities, especially for those who would prefer the sun over cloudy Portland and Seattle (from one who traded 320 days of overcast for 320 days of sun with eyes wide open) and the frigid mile-high city. What am I missing?