Author F. Scott Fitzgerald’s observation that “Rich is different from you and me” can be easily applied recently to the valley housing market, and has been judged by analysts’ major research.
Cromford’s report recently showed that the first two months of 2024 analysis of sales data and the same period this year, luxury home sales occupy their own world.
“The market is no longer functioning as a single entity, as the high-end is increasingly disconnected from the affordable mid-range market.
The analysis is based on several comparisons.
First, Cromford’s report said expensive communities in the Northeast Valley accounted for five of the six biggest increases in the average square foot price of single-family homes over the past two years.
Youngtown was the outlier, but Phoenix was seventh.
Cromford’s report also saw a huge rise in price and closures in the first two months of 2025, with three zip codes in the Northeast Valley – 85255 and 85262 in Scottsdale and 85233 in Paradise Valley – in the first two months of 2025, when the entire valley market expanded its far-flung show.
Additionally, the total amount of money fired by people who bought homes with these three postal codes in January and February was 28% higher than the total spent by all home buyers in Pinal County over the same two months.
Since 2023, looking at the rise in the average annual square foot price of single family homes, Paradise Valley led the list of 40 towns and cities in Pinal and Maricopa County by 33.5%
It was followed by Scottsdale (16.6%), Fountain Hills (15.6%), Carefree (14.5%), Youngtown (13.5%) and Rio Verde (12.9%). Phoenix was behind with a 12.6% increase.
East Valley cities and towns have been significantly behind in rising square feet of prices over the past two years.
Chandler recorded an 8.8% increase. Gilbert, 8.3%. Mesa and Tempe were linked at 7.8%. Apache Junction, 6.7%; Gold Canyon and Sun Lakes tied 6.3%, Queen Creek (5.8%).
Only Arizona City has recorded a decline (1.2%) in the average square foot price of single-family homes over the past two years.
However, Cromford’s report argued that the consumer price index rose 7% over that same period, so municipal homes where square feet were less than “real value lost.”
He also said that while most Pinal County municipalities saw a relatively low increase, “Eloi did well,” he said, increasing 9.5% in the average square foot price.
Cromford’s report made some surprising discoveries highlighting the volleyball’s robust, ultra-breasted home market.
The Crom Ford Report, which combines Paradise Valley and two Scottsdale zipcords’ first two months of single-family home sales last year, said it had a $220 closure and a $1 volume totaling $445.6 million.
In contrast, almost five times the number of homes sold during that period in Pinal County, total sales amounted to just $29 million.
The median selling price of $394,990 for these Pinal County homes was well below the $1.5 million closure of the 220 closure of three Northeast Valley Zip Codes.
Cromford reports that the differences were the same in the first seven weeks of the year.
Paradise Valley and Scottsdale Zip Codes combined 247 closures cost $674 million, with a median of $2.02 million.
In the first seven weeks of the year, Pinal County all recorded 1,012 closures totaling $484.4 million. The median selling price was $402,000.
“We can conclude that a large amount of money inflows have been applied to ultra-luxurious markets by a relatively small number of people (247 buyers) over the past seven weeks,” the Cromford report states.
“And they only cover three postcodes. There are quite a few other super luxury homes, including 85018, 85259, and 85377.”
Deep into three zip cords in the Northeast Valley, Cromford’s report compared home sales over the past seven weeks with the first two months of 2024.
The number of units sold increased by 12.3%, and the total dollar amount rose by 51.2%, he said. Both the average selling price and median price rose by more than 34%, while the average square foot price rose by 13.7%.
Also, compared to the first two months of 2024, only 27 units with ZIP code were sold in the first seven weeks of this year, but the total area of all homes sold this year was 33.1% larger.
“We don’t need to tell you that it doesn’t reflect the rest of the market performance,” the Cromford report states.
While a comparison of the entire valley of sales in the first seven weeks of this year was not in the first two months of last year, other data from the Crom Ford Report and Phoenix real estate agents show a much smaller increase.
For example, looking at Maricopa County’s January 2025 sales, Cromford’s report said earlier this month that sales increased by 6.7% from January 2024, with a median sales price of $484,990 up 6.6%.
“Even though the low-end and mid-range markets are weak, the top markets in the market are still maintaining both volume and price beyond what is expected.”
