Scottsdale is one of those long, skinny towns that has very definite north, south, and central neighborhoods. Prices tend to increase, from south to north.
Today, I’ve created some charts (with the help of Altos Research) to show the current differences in these varying markets.
Current median list price for South Scottsdale (85257) has dropped down to just over $200K. While the area just north of downtown Scottsdale (85250), the median listing price is now running about $375K. The area around McCormick, Gainey, and Scottsdale Ranches (85258) has not see a drop in listing price. To the north, where DC and McDowell Mountain Ranches are located in zip code 85255, median listing prices have hovered right around the $1 million dollar range.
In this next chart, you can see that in all areas have really experienced a reduction in price, if you look at it from a median price per square foot basis. South Scottsdale has taken the brunt of this depreciation.
Although the northern part of Scottsdale has kept its listing prices high, inventory has actually increased slightly, where as in the other zip codes to the south, fewer homes are now available for sale.
Finally, pricing really does have an impact on how long it takes to sell a home. As you can see here, in 85255 and 85258, it is taking longer and longer to sell a home. However, in downtown and South Scottsdale, you are seeing a plateauing of days on market, or the number of days it takes to sell a home.
Scottsdale’s real estate market has not been as impacted by foreclosures as many of the other areas around Phoenix. Also, the majority of the homes on the market in north Scottsdale do not qualify for FHA financing or fall into the jumbo loan category, and with the tightened mortgage market, there has been an impact, resulting in a slower market.
Move-up buyers have been sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what is going to change. However, once there’s an increased level on confidence in the real estate market and our economy, I do think that we will see an increased number of home sales. Owners who purchased prior to the market run up, with equity in their homes, will decide that selling their current home in today’s market will give them the opportunity to buy up. Lower home prices and the lowest interest rates in years will drive this change. It’s bound to happen, it’s just a matter of when.
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