By Mike Bodeen · 8 June 2026
Mortgage Rates Rise – Under Contract Listings Drop
Reviewing May’s sales numbers was not surprising, even though the monthly median sales price increased from $450,000 to $455,000 – a 1.1% increase. Considering that demand from buyers has dropped, one could expect to see prices drop, but this market’s been amazingly even keeled.
For the past two years, the monthly median sales price has ranged from $450,000 to $455,000. The honest thing to say about pricing in the Phoenix Metro market is that it is stable.
“The Fed is becoming mixed in its consideration of raising rates rather than dropping them. The trend of mortgage rates is now a toss-up.”
Sales and “under contract listings” increased versus one year ago, but both have dropped from last month and new “under contract” listings are slowing. We’re seeing “Days on the Market” increase for both listings and sales. This trend continues to follow what’s happening in mortgage rates which are now closer to 7% than 6%. Clearly, buyers have not liked the most recent spike in rates.
Here are the recent sales numbers from the Arizona Regional Multiple Listings Service (ARMLS) as of June 1st:
Active Listings: 25,488 vs 26,580 last year – down 4.1% – down 1.6% from 25,908 last month
Under Contract Listings: 8,532 vs 7,936 last year – up 7.5% – but down 12.5% from 9,746 last month
Monthly Sales: 7,539 versus 7,120 last year – up 5.9% – but down 2.4% from 7,726 last month
Monthly Average Sales Price per Sq. Ft: $301 versus $300 last year – up 0.1% – but down 0.9% from $303.45 last month
Monthly Median Sales Price: $455,000 the same as last year – but up 1.1% from $450,000 last month
The Fed is becoming mixed in its consideration of raising rates rather than dropping them. The trend of mortgage rates is now a toss-up. Though not directly tied to the Fed’s rates, this is due to the difficulty of taming inflation with the continued war (read: oil) in the Mideast and the job market looking too robust – anything but recessionary, jobs-wise anyway.
With the strong possibility that mortgage rates remain high (their current pace) and possibly go higher, our advice to buyers AND sellers is to act – now. Buyers, there’s still a good supply of homes to consider. Sellers, strongly consider decent offers. You might not get the price you’re hoping to get, but it will stem the financial monthly bleeding and could prevent a greater loss down the road – especially if mortgage rates continue to increase. I speak from historical experience.