By Jonathan Bodeen · 26 January 2026
How can that be? Well this is true for those who aren’t paying cash.
Home prices are up, but not by much, not even keeping in line with inflation. And that is when looking at list price. When looking at closed pricing, it actually tilts down from this time last year. This may not seem representative of where you are at, because our market is very mixed from area to area, and price range to price range. This is especailly true right now.
The difference from last year? Mortgage rates have come down from an average of 7.06% last year to 6.19% today.
For a $450,000 home with 5% down (about the median price right now),7.06% would be a principal and interest payment of about $2,860. With today’s interest rate, that same home would be about $$2,610 per month. That means for the average home buyer, the cost of owning a median priced home has gone down about $250 per month since this time last year.
That’s not nothing. But will it be enough? We Realtors, lenders, title agents, inspectors etc. who depend on the market for our income our hoping it will be. But I know for the average buyer out there, they would like to see this drop further.
So far demand is outpacing 2025, but not by much. The Phoenix Metro does however, have more listings than it did this time 2025. It seems to me a few more weeks are still needed to find out if 2026 will have some good headwinds.