I don’t know about not flying. On the plane back from CA about a year ago, I had a stop in PHX. I sat next to a Chinese lady who had just bought a condo in AZ because she wanted a rental for her son, who had moved there after college.
Foreigners are buying up a lot of property as well (good thing in my book – I don’t consider myself very American).
Real problem with both Phoenix and LV is climate and lack of water. This won’t get better with global warming, and they’re borderline intolerable 5 months out of the year as it is!