Closed home sales in Scottsdale last month landed below the January 2025 total, but both the average and median sales prices scored year-over-year gains.
Data from Phoenix Realtors, the Valley’s largest association of professionals, showed that the 271 homes that sold last month represented a 7.2% decline from a year ago.
But the median price of $1.35 million was 2.7% higher than January 2025 while the average price of $1.85 million exceeded January 2025 by 4.9%, according to Phoenix Realtors.
And while days on the market for those sold homes last moth soared by 16.5% to an average 99 days, sellers still received 96.6% of their asking price – virtually unchanged from a year earlier.
Inventory in the Scottsdale market also zoomed up by 14.2% over January 2025, the data showed, as new listings were 9.3% year-over-year lower and pending sales plummeted by 41.4% in the same time frame, according to Phoenix Realtors.
Phoenix Realtors said the trend across the Valley last month “shows the market settling into its typical winter slowdown.”
Valley-wide, closed sales increased year over year last month by less than a percent while pending sales plummeted 31% and new listings were down by 6%.
“When you look at the long-term trending numbers, January is always a slow month for residential real estate,” said Phoenix Realtors Board President Sammy Glassman, noting the market had “hit a trough ahead of the peak sales in February and through spring.”
Phoenix Realtors added, however, that January figures across the metro region “align with expected trends from the past five years” and that the median sale price of $475,000 last month was 3.1% lower than January 2025.
Glassman added Valley sales activity “was slightly lower than national sales, which increased 1.3% over the previous year.”
A leading analyst of the Metro Phoenix housing market said rising inventory and sluggish sales are quickly making the Valley a buyers’ market.
The Cromford Report two weeks ago said that out of 18 submarkets in the Valley it closely monitors, “we have only two cities moving in favor of sellers.
“The trend in favor of buyers is getting significantly stronger,” it added, noting Scottsdale, Fountain Hills and Goodyear moved into buyers’ territory by double digits while Chandler showed the slowest movement away from a sellers’ market.
“For the market to be still moving in favor of buyers after the Super Bowl is unfortunately a signal of weakness,” it said. “In a good season we normally see enough demand by mid-February for the number of active listings to reach a peak and start to decline.”
It noted 2025 “was not a good season and active listings did not peak until the end of April” and added, “It looks like 2026 is following a similar path to last year despite affordability improving due to much lower interest rates than a year ago.”
While “demand is up a little from a year ago,” the Cromford Report said it is “not as much as expected, given interest rates are a lot lower than this time last year.
“The typical 30-year fixed rate is currently around 6.2% while a year ago it was just over 7%,” it said. “The total number of listings under contract is up a modest 2.2% from Feb 1, 2025. This is better than a decline, obviously, but it hardly represents enthusiastic buying.”
Noting the sharp decline in sales last month, the Cromford Report called the number of closings “underwhelming…considering that mortgage expenses are considerably lower.”
It conceded that the trend toward a buyers’ market “could easily turn around if demand picked up and if active listings reach an early peak and start falling as more of them go under contract.”
But it added, “Whether this happens or not is still a tough call.
Overall, the market is stable and demand is better than a year ago,” it said. “However, it is not better by enough to compensate for the extra supply that sellers have to compete with. There is still downward pressure on prices in the low and middle ranges, especially in areas with excessive supply.”
The Cromford Report also advised that the median sale price “is more representative of the bulk of the market (excluding luxury homes) and it went down 1.8% over the last month.”
And it said demand and sales activity remained higher in seven-figure home price ranges.
Realtor.com economists echoed the Cromford Report, stating last week, “More active listings and more new homes being put up for sale are both contributing to the market tilting in favor of buyers.
“All of the homes on the market are sitting longer,” it added, stating that the lengthening time homes are staying on the market “goes beyond normal seasonal cooling, indicating a fundamental shift in buyer urgency.”
