Metro Phoenix Housing Market: August Was Slow, As Expected
As expected, Metro Phoenix home sales were slow in August.
Summer is traditionally one of the slower periods for Arizona real estate. Temperatures frequently exceed 110 degrees, many of our winter visitors are out of town, and overall activity normally slows.
A total of 3,602 single-family detached homes sold in August, compared with 4,210 in July and 3,780 in August of last year.
That is a significant monthly decline, but the number needs to be viewed in the context of our normal summer market.
What I find more interesting is what happened to the rest of the market.
Home Prices Remained Strong
Even with fewer transactions, prices held up well.
The average single-family home sold for $686,119 in August, compared with $646,445 in August 2025. That is approximately 6.1% higher than a year ago.
Price per square foot was $290.27, approximately 2.5% higher than last August.
So while fewer homes changed hands, the homes that did sell were still selling at prices above last year’s levels.
That is an important distinction.
Slower sales have not translated into falling prices across the market.
Buyers Still Have Choices
Metro Phoenix began September with 12,943 single-family homes in inventory.
That remains elevated compared with the roughly 8,000 to 9,000 homes I consider a more normal inventory level, so buyers continue to have considerably more selection than they would in a tight housing market.
At the same time, inventory is actually about 5% lower than it was a year ago, when there were 13,629 homes available.
Homes are taking longer to sell, with active listings averaging 86 days on market.
Our supply and demand ratio is 33.21%, which remains firmly in buyer’s-market territory.
For buyers, that can create opportunities to negotiate not only the price, but also repairs, closing costs, seller concessions and potentially the structure of the financing.
For sellers, it means buyers have choices. Pricing, condition and presentation matter.
There Are Still Buyers in the Market
One number that should not get lost in the August sales total is the number of homes currently under contract.
We entered September with 4,299 homes under contract, slightly higher than the 4,251 we had at the beginning of August.
So the market is not sitting still.
People are buying homes. They are simply doing it in a market where they have more choices and where affordability matters considerably more.
Mortgage Rates Remain the Biggest Challenge
The financing environment is probably the biggest obstacle facing buyers right now.
The average 30-year mortgage rate increased to 6.67% in August, while the 10-year Treasury averaged 4.68%, its highest monthly average in quite some time.
And as September began, Treasury yields moved even higher.
That puts continued pressure on mortgage rates and makes affordability one of the most important parts of putting a transaction together.
But there is another side to that story that consumers do not always see.
I am a mortgage broker, which means I am not limited to the products and pricing of one bank or one lender.
We work with more than 30 lenders.
That gives us the ability to compare pricing, programs and underwriting guidelines for the individual borrower.
Sometimes that means finding a better rate or lower-cost financing.
Sometimes it means finding a loan program that better fits the borrower’s situation.
And sometimes it means getting a loan approved that another lender could not approve because we have access to different underwriting guidelines and different loan programs.
That flexibility becomes much more valuable when mortgage rates are high and every part of the financing matters.
What Does All of This Mean?
I don’t see August as a reason to be negative about the Metro Phoenix housing market.
Sales were slow, as we normally expect during an Arizona summer.
At the same time:
- Home prices remained above last year’s levels.
- Price per square foot remained above last year.
- Inventory is lower than it was a year ago.
- More than 4,200 homes are currently under contract.
- Buyers have considerably more choices and negotiating opportunities.
- Mortgage rates are challenging, but buyers are not necessarily limited to the rate or loan program they see advertised by one lender.
This is not an easy market.
But for buyers and sellers who understand the market they are actually operating in, there are still opportunities to put together very good transactions.