By J. Graber
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There is some good news for home buyers in Scottsdale ... sort of ... depending on how you look at it.

While the median home price in the Valley rose 3.6% in October, Scottsdale’s median price rose just 2.3%.

But that’s where the talk about affordability of housing in Scottsdale stops.
While the percentages look great for Scottsdale, the raw numbers tell another story.

The median house in the Valley as a whole is $475,000 in October, while the median home in Scottsdale came in at just over $1.1 million.

“You don’t have probably a lot of first time buyers, buying in Scottsdale,”

Phoenix Realtors Board President Sheryl Bowden said. “You got you’re move ups (people who are upgrading). Or you have, of course, people with legacy money as far as your average sales price goes. Or it’s corporate (relocations), where they are already sitting on a good salary.”

But other than the cost of the homes in Scottsdale being much higher than rest of the county - which can be seen as a good or bad thing, depending on whether you are a buyer or seller - Scottsdale’s real estate market is doing better than the county as a whole.

“Scottsdale’s closed sales (totals) were a plus-21.2%,” Bowden said. “For Maricopa County the closed sales (totals) are plus-15.6%. Days on market until sale in Maricopa County are up 27.5% and for Scottsdale it’s plus-21%.”

And that’s just month over month numbers. Year-to-date numbers are even better when compared to the rest of the county.

For instance, the average sales price in Scottsdale is up 9% year to date compared to a plus-5% for the county.

“Scottsdale is faring better in almost everything,” Bowden said.

In the meantime, interest rates, which are hovering around 7%, aren’t doing anyone any favors, Bowden said.

But with the presidential election over, she is looking for good things happening in the market.

“Our chief economist (Lawrence Yun) said the worst of the downturn in home sales could be over,” Bowden said. “He said that based on the fact that we have rising inventory, it’s giving the buyers more options after having a record year with low supply.”

J. Graber can be reached at jgraber@iniusa.org. We invite our readers to submit their civil comments pro or con on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.