By Mike Bodeen · 15 August 2016
West Valley Rules the Appreciation Market
The highest priced communities in the Valley are NOT the highest appreciating ones, whereas the highest appreciating communities ARE the lowest priced per square foot.
Paradise Valley is again the most expensive community in the Valley with an average sales price per square foot of $339, which is a 5.5% drop from last year. Carefree ($241 psf) and Scottsdale ($231 psf) take up the #2 and #3 slots.
There were only 2 other communities (Rio Verde and Gold Canyon), besides Paradise Valley, in which prices dropped from a year ago. All others gain in value.
Noticeably, the biggest price gainers are mostly West Valley. Youngtown (18.7%), and Wittman (16.8%) led the way. Eleven cities out of the 41 listed were priced below $100 per square foot.
The table below ranks the cities by their annual average sales price per square foot. Only single family detached homes are included in these numbers. Information for the 12 major and 17 secondary cities is current as of the date shown. Data for the 14 small cities is updated on a monthly basis, and is measured on the 13th of each month.
The primary function of this table is to show the least and most affordable areas in the Phoenix metropolitan area together with longer term pricing trends.
Annual averages are based on a relatively large number of sales. Therefore, they are not as subject to rapid change as monthly averages. The downside is that they do not necessarily represent the current market very accurately, since they include sales from up to a year ago. Pricing may have moved a great deal since then.
We echo our oft repeated caveat: All real estate is local. Check with us about your specific neighborhood and residence when needing to know your value.
(Thanks to Michael Orr and the Cromford Report)
Market data referenced in this article comes from The Cromford Report.