Metro Phoenix’s Housing Market Flat in January, but Prices & Sales Now Climbing

Article originally posted on AZ Central on February 23, 2024

Metro Phoenix’s housing market was pretty meh in January. But home prices and sales are bouncing in February.

The Valley’s median home price was flat at $430,000 in January from December but is on track to climb to $440,000 in February, according to the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service.

Home sales in the Phoenix area dipped to 4,122 last month, down about 700 from December. Sales are expected to top 5,500 this month based on pending transactions.

January is typically a slow month for the housing market as homebuyers and sellers pull back during the holidays.

“If we were to define this January’s housing numbers in terms of the type of year a major entertainer, a football player and an NFL franchise had, it would be a Lizzo Mitch Trubisky Arizona Cardinals kind of month,” wrote Tom Ruff, housing expert with ARMLS’ Information Market, in a commentary on January sales.

He called January 2021, when there were more than 7,000 sales, the start of a “Taylor Swift Travis Kelce Kansas City kind of year.”

Rising interest rates began putting the brakes on metro Phoenix’s overly hot housing market in mid-2022. But mortgage rates are down from the average 8% that 30-year loans hit in the fall.

The average mortgage rate is now 6.9%, according to Freddie Mac.

The Valley’s housing market almost always picks up from February to June. And lower mortgage rates are expected to give it a boost.