Thinking of buying a winter home or relocating to the Phoenix area?

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Updated: December 3, 2022

By Bob Marlatt, Inside Golf Publisher

I recently contacted a real estate broker, Bill Cole, a Washington native and Arizona transplant, who has his hand on the pulse of the real estate market in the greater Phoenix area, to find out what that market was like.  Here is his response: Our market is still strong with an estimated 300 people a day moving to the valley. But our inventory has gone from 5000 properties on the market in Jan-Feb 2022 to just over 20,000 properties as of today. That coupled with 7% interest rates has slowed the market dramatically.

QUESTION: What is available for a couple wanting to by a winter home with a budget of around $250,000?

ANSWER: Our prices have also increased rather dramatically since the bottom of the Great Recession in 2011. The couple will only find 14 homes in the “greater Phoenix valley” matching their criteria. I also added the criteria of one-level home as most “snowbirds” do NOT want stairs. Most of the homes are in the Sun City / Surprise corner of the Northwest corner of the Valley. None in the East Valley of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Gilbert, Chandler, and Queen Creek. If I expand the search to the south of the valley communities of Maricopa, Casa Grande, and Eloy, I can find a total of 37 homes, most in an Arizona City new home subdivision just under an hour from Sky Harbor airport.

QUESTION 2: A couple plans on selling their home in Seattle/Portland area and is looking to relocate to the Phoenix area. They are hoping to find something around $400K, what can they expect to find on the market?

ANSWER:  The median sales price this year is $450,000. Last year was $380,000. In 2020 it was $310,000.

QUESTION: What is the market for golf course property look like?

ANSWER: Currently there are just over 2,600 homes on the market in “golf course communities” and 587 homes on the golf course priced from $250k to $16mil. We have some beautiful “Active Adult” communities throughout the Valley with organized social and golf memberships.          

On a side note: The upper end and luxury markets are very strong. Homes in the $3-5 million range are selling. In the past 6 months we have had 8 homes sell above $10mil, including the top price of $28,100,000.

The Valley is still booming with industrial parks, distribution centers, commerce, and Intel and TSMC investing BILLIONS in new chip plants. Arizona has done a great job of courting California and Pacific Coast companies away from their high tax burdens and poor infrastructures. 

Our thanks to Bill Cole for sharing his insights for this article. He can be reached at: Bill William M Cole, PLLC | Realty ONE Group, Scottsdale/Seattle | Associate/Managing Broker | email: bill@billcole.com | cell/text: 206-949-1372 | visit his website at: www.billcole.com

the Phoenix area?