Market Reports

🏠 Market Update- What is happening with Prices?

Arizona Housing Market Update – August 16, 2026

Prices dipped a little bit last month, but it's nothing dramatic, and it's honestly pretty normal for this time of year. If you're picturing a "market crash" headline, that's not what this is. If anything, it's the market taking a breather.

Here's the thing that tripped me up when I first read the numbers — there are two different ways to measure "price per square foot," and they told two different stories this month. One version (the average) dropped a decent chunk. The other version (the median, aka the true middle of the market) barely moved at all. Why the difference? A few super expensive luxury homes sold, and those big numbers can yank the "average" way off course even though nothing really changed for a normal, everyday home. So honestly, ignore the average — the median is the one that actually reflects what's happening to a typical buyer or seller, and it only slipped about 1%. That's basically a shrug.

The actual sale price of a typical home here? Still sitting right around $450,000, basically flat from last month, and still higher than it was this time last year. So no, your home didn't suddenly lose value overnight.

One thing I am keeping an eye on: a few more homes under contract right now involve some kind of financial distress — mostly pre-foreclosures — than we saw a year ago. It's still a small slice of the market (like 95% of contracts are totally normal sales), and it's nowhere close to what we saw back in 2008-2012. But it's been creeping up for about six months now, so it's one of those "not alarming yet, but worth watching" things.

**If you're thinking about buying:**

You might have a little more wiggle room right now than you did in the spring. Prices softening slightly, plus it being the slow season, can work in your favor — especially on homes that have been sitting a while. Just don't wait around for some big price crash, because that's not what the data is pointing to. This is a gentle cooldown, not a cliff.

**If you're thinking about selling:**

Price it right from the start. Buyers are paying attention, and a home priced for "last year's market" is going to sit. If your house has been on the market through the heat of summer without much action, don't panic — that's partly just the season (it's always slower in Phoenix in the summer, for obvious reasons). Your equity is still solid either way.

Bottom line: this isn't a market falling apart, it's a market catching its breath. If you want to talk through what any of this actually means for your specific situation, I'm always happy to break it down over coffee — no pressure, no sales pitch, just numbers.

Short answer: prices dipped a little bit last month, but it's nothing dramatic, and it's honestly pretty normal for this time of year. If you're picturing a "market crash" headline, that's not what this is. If anything, it's the market taking a breather.

If you're thinking about buying: You might have a little more wiggle room right now than you did in the spring. Prices softening slightly, plus it being the slow season, can work in your favor — especially on homes that have been sitting a while. Just don't wait around for some big price crash, because that's not what the data is pointing to. This is a gentle cooldown, not a cliff.

If you're thinking about selling: Price it right from the start. Buyers are paying attention, and a home priced for "last year's market" is going to sit. If your house has been on the market through the heat of summer without much action, don't panic — that's partly just the season (it's always slower in Phoenix in the summer, for obvious reasons). Your equity is still solid either way.