Sell Your Commercial Property Fast In Phoenix Metro, AZ

Who rents in Phoenix

Phoenix had an estimated 1,642,323 residents in the 2020–2024 American Community Survey, living in 610,442 occupied homes. Of those, 260,441 were renter-occupied, a 42.7% share. The city's median household income was $81,332.

Renter share varies sharply across the cities named on our Phoenix Metro page. ACS 2020–2024 data shows Tempe at 57.7% renters, the only one of the four where renters are the majority. Glendale sits at 42.8%, close to Phoenix, while Mesa (35.6%) and Chandler (35.0%) lean toward ownership.

New arrivals keep the pool fresh. About 44,900 Phoenix residents had lived in another state a year earlier, and another 167,300 had moved within Maricopa County, per ACS table B07001. That inflow is part of the renter demand that leasing at existing buildings draws on.

Two employers illustrate the demand drivers on our Phoenix Metro page. TSMC reported more than 3,000 employees at its Phoenix fab, on a 1,100-acre site that has been in volume production since late 2024. In March 2025 the company said it intends to raise planned U.S. investment to $165 billion, adding three more fabs, two advanced packaging plants and an R&D center. It expects the expansion to support about 40,000 construction jobs over four years. Construction crews and newly hired technicians typically rent before they buy.

Healthcare is the other anchor. Banner Health, headquartered on North Central Avenue, operates 33 hospitals in six states and reports more than 60,000 employees, making it Arizona's largest private employer. Its academic campus, Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix, is in the city. That puts a large, round-the-clock workforce inside the city limits rather than only in the suburbs.

Rents and affordability

Median gross rent in Phoenix was $1,582 over 2020–2024, and the 2024 one-year ACS estimate was $1,712. Among the nearby cities, Chandler's median was $1,902, Tempe's $1,743, Mesa's $1,620 and Glendale's $1,528.

Affordability limits how far those rents can climb. Of Phoenix's renter households, 49.1% spend 30% or more of income on gross rent, and 23.5% spend at least half. Owners of Class C buildings with lower-income tenants face more turnover and collection risk when renewal increases outrun wage growth.

HUD's fair market rents give a standard benchmark for the metro, and they are the reference point for voucher-backed tenancies. In FY2026, every bedroom size came in below the FY2025 level:

FMRs are for the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler MSA (Maricopa and Pinal counties) from HUD. Asking rents are metro averages from Kidder Mathews using CoStar data. Voucher programs in the metro use ZIP-code-level Small Area FMRs, so the payment standard for a specific building can sit above or below these figures.

The apartment stock

Phoenix has 653,065 housing units, and ACS table B25024 shows 172,396 of them, or 26.4%, are in buildings with five or more units. Large complexes dominate: 76,900 units sit in buildings of 50+ units, while 31,395 are in 5–9 unit buildings, 37,118 in 10–19 unit buildings and 26,983 in 20–49 unit buildings. That small and mid-size segment is where many private, long-held properties trade.

The housing stock is middle-aged. The median year built is 1985, and 41.6% of units date from before 1980, per table B25034. Only 11.6% were built in 2010 or later. Buildings of that vintage often face roof, plumbing and HVAC replacement, and buyers price that into offers.

New supply

The recent construction wave was a metro-wide story, with large projects in Downtown Tempe, Roosevelt Row and North Gateway. Recent completions include Shorehaven in Downtown Tempe (722 units) and Ray Phoenix in Roosevelt Row (401 units), both delivered in April 2026, while Pier 202 in Downtown Tempe (586 units) is due in late 2026. Kidder Mathews reported 15,974 units under construction across the metro in Q2 2026, down from 24,746 a year earlier. Deliveries totaled 6,355 units in the first half of 2026, and net absorption reached 9,414 units over the same period, so demand is now outpacing new completions.

Vacancy was 11.3% in Q2 2026, 40 basis points lower than a year before. Asking rents were down 2.2% year over year. For older 5–50 unit buildings, a shrinking pipeline means fewer new projects competing for the same renters over the next few years.

Property taxes on apartment buildings in Maricopa County

Arizona law places property that is used for residential purposes and solely leased or rented in legal class 4. Its assessed value is 10% of full cash value or limited value, as applicable. The limited property value rises by 5% a year at most and can never exceed full cash value. That gap matters on a sale, because a buyer inherits a tax base that may sit well below current market value.

For the City of Phoenix share alone, the FY2025-26 rates were $1.2658 primary and $0.8141 secondary per $100 of assessed value. School districts, the county and special districts add their own levies, so the total bill depends on the parcel's location.

A separate local cost has gone away. The Arizona Department of Revenue confirms that city transaction privilege tax on residential rent ended on January 1, 2025. Phoenix owners no longer collect or remit it, which improves net operating income compared with older operating statements. For a parcel-level walkthrough, see our Phoenix apartment property tax explainer.

Landlord rules and local compliance

Phoenix cannot cap rents. A.R.S. 33-1329 preempts rent control on private residential property statewide, including in charter cities. It exempts housing that is owned, financed, insured or subsidized by a state agency or a city. Buildings with those agreements may carry their own rent limits that transfer to a buyer.

Registration is mandatory. Under A.R.S. 33-1902, owners must file ownership, parcel and year-built details with the county assessor and update them within ten days of a change, and out-of-state owners must name an Arizona statutory agent. A newly acquired rental that is not registered can draw a $1,000 city penalty plus $100 a month. The Maricopa County Assessor handles registration online or by form, and the statute lets assessors charge up to $10 per filing. Under A.R.S. 33-1904, a property that is unregistered or designated a slum property can be inspected at the owner's expense, and unpaid costs can become a lien.

What this means if you own a building here

A Phoenix seller today is dealing with three things together: in-place rents that may sit close to or above new-supply asking rents, a falling but still elevated vacancy rate, and a tax base that grows at most 5% a year. Kidder Mathews put the metro average cap rate at 5.8% in Q2 2026, down from 6.6% a year earlier, with average pricing of $266,672 per unit. Notable Q2 2026 trades included Broadstone on 7th in Uptown Phoenix (258 units, $315,407 per unit) and Longbow Luxury Apartments in Central Mesa (339 units, $280,973 per unit). Those are averages and trades weighted toward large, newer assets. A 1970s 12-unit in Glendale will price off its own trailing net operating income and capital needs.

Before talking to buyers, confirm your assessor registration is current, separate any old rental-tax line items from your operating history, and document roof, plumbing and HVAC age. You can test pricing with our cap rate calculator. Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit buildings across Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale, Tempe and Chandler, listed or off-market, and our seller page explains how we underwrite.