The Phoenix housing market is finally settling down, realtors say

The housing market is healing. 

In mid-2020, the COVID-19 pandemic drove the Valley into an all-out housing crisis. Construction of new homes came to a halt, and materials were scarce. Mortgage rates dropped to atypical lows and prices skyrocketed due to limited inventory.

But nearly six years later, February 2026 data from the local realtor association, Phoenix REALTORS, shows the median sale price of Valley-area properties is dropping, and the affordability index is increasing. The analysis suggests that the Valley’s market is normalizing, opening it up to more buyers. 

“This is a really good thing that we’re going through,” said Sammy Glassman, the president of Phoenix REALTORS and a realtor with Realty One Group. “Affordability is improving.” 

In an interview with Phoenix New Times, Glassman described the Valley’s market in the COVID era as “artificial” and in “an absolute frenzy,” unlike anything she had seen in her 22 years as a realtor. “We had areas that were hotter than hot,” she said. Shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Glassman recalled, the number of homes on the market in Maricopa and Pinal counties dropped to as few as 2,000, forcing buyers to move quickly to purchase available homes. This artificial market was created by the global pandemic — and the worldwide panic that came with it — and often resulted in intense bidding wars that drove prices up.

But over the last year or so, Glassman has begun to see the market settle back down. Now there are more than 26,000 homes on the market in Phoenix, which is 13 times as many as during the COVID low, Glassman said. Buyers can take their time to choose from a variety of options to see what else is out there for them, prompting home sellers to lower prices to meet buyers’ demands or to rent their properties instead.

Compared to last February, newly listed single-family homes in the Valley are selling for 12.6% less. The number of pending sales has also dropped by 33.2%, and homes are staying on the market for an average of 82 days, which is 12.2% longer than this time last year. Overall, the affordability index for all Phoenix residential properties has increased by 8.1% in the last year to 77, which means “77% of households with an income equal to the region’s median can afford the median-priced home,” according to a Phoenix REALTORS press release.

“They’re looking at things more diligently, considering the costs of things a little bit more,” Glassman said of homebuyers. “They don’t have to move as quickly as they did even three years ago.”

However, prices still remain high for many. According to the association’s data, the median sale price for a single-family home in the Valley dropped 2%, though it still costs $480,000. The average price is the same as the median, and unchanged from a year ago. With mortgage rates above 6%, those prices are out of reach for many families.

Then again, perhaps it’s good news just that prices aren’t still going up.

Trends in Valley cities

The realtors’ association also provided specific data for a number of Valley cities.

Phoenix: New listings and pending sales have dropped 10.6% and 21.8%, respectively. The median price of a single-family home has dropped 5%, from $500,000 to $475,000.

Scottsdale: The normalization of the housing market hasn’t reached Scottsdale, apparently. Median home prices have jumped 3% year over year, and now sit at $1.3 million.

Queen Creek: Prices are also still rising in one of the Valley’s fastest-growing suburbs. A single-family home now goes for a median price of $685,000, up 1.2% from last year.

Peoria: Closed sales are up 7.9%, but pending sales and new listings both have dropped. A median-priced single-family home goes for $535,000, down 2.7% since last year.

Goodyear: New listings and pending and closed sales are all down, despite the association noting that Goodyear had been “one of the most active markets until the first two months of 2026.” The median price of a single-family home hasn’t budged — it’s $485,000.

Buckeye: This far West Valley suburb also saw a drop in home prices, from $415,000 a year ago to $400,000 now. That’s a 3.6% dip.

More affordability issues

While the market is moving in favor of the buyer, the Valley’s housing crisis is far from over. Lawmakers are continuing to push for changes to make homes more affordable. 

In Maricopa County, eviction rates remain high, with landlords filing 7,070 evictions in February, a record for the month. A bill to provide $5 million in rental assistance to Arizona families died in the Arizona House of Representatives. Other bills to limit institutional investors’ control over the market, increase landlord transparency and create on-campus workforce housing didn’t make it out of the House.

Still, two notable housing bills that passed the House have a shot at becoming law. The first would create a rural low-income tax credit to support the development of affordable housing construction in rural pockets of the state. The second would allocate grant money toward emergency shelters to support the state’s homeless veteran population. 

While the market is moving in the right direction, global events — specifically, the Trump administration’s war in Iran — could grind that progress to a halt. That war has put a chokehold on oil prices, which has downstream effects on just about every industry, including homebuilding.

Additionally, the local economy could be affected by President Donald Trump’s attempt to oust the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and by temperatures already reaching triple digits in mid-March. Glassman thinks it’s highly unlikely that the market will again careen out of control as it did during the pandemic — literally a once-in-a-hundred-years event — but a certain amount of uncertainty is unavoidable.

“Things can slip on a dime,” Glassman said. “It’s hard to say how the year is going to end.”