Scottsdale Home Prices Surging Upward

The number of homes for sale in Phoenix and Scottsdale are down dramatically in the past year. There are currently 7,838 active single family homes for sale in Maricopa County. There were over 30,000 homes on the market just a couple of years ago. For those of us who remember that, this number seems unimaginable.

Because of the lack of homes for sale, prices have begun to rise. As of the middle of June the average price per square foot of homes sold is $101.56/square foot. At the beginning of May it was $96.11/square foot. If you go back to August 2011, which was our lowest point, it was $79.14/square foot. So we have had a 28% increase since then in the dollars per square foot sold!

The questions everyone wants to know is, Can I still get a deal? That depends on what your definition of what a deal is. If you want to buy a Phoenix or Scottsdale home for well below list price, good luck. Maybe you could have done that in 2008, but in 2012 there is slim chance of doing that. The average sale is currently 98.3% of the list price. Reality Check: The average price of a home in Maricopa County was $260,000 in 2006. It is now $145,500. Even if you have to pay list price or over list price, you are still getting a home for almost half of what others paid for them in 2006. Now that is what I call a deal.