This table ranks the cities by their annual median sales price per square foot. Only single family detached homes are included in these numbers, and every city is measured on the same date, which is shown at the top of the table.
The primary function of this table is to show the least and most affordable areas together with longer term pricing trends. It covers the Phoenix metropolitan area and also reaches cities elsewhere in Arizona with enough ARMLS activity to measure, including Prescott, Flagstaff, Sedona, Prescott Valley, Payson, Cottonwood, Show Low and Sierra Vista.
Annual medians are based on a relatively large number of sales. Therefore they are not as subject to rapid change as monthly figures. 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.
The median is the middle figure rather than the average, so it is not pulled about by a handful of unusually large or expensive homes. This changes the order at the more affordable end of the table in particular.
You can also see how the ranking stood at the start of any month back to January 2017, using the date selector above the table.
Note that Higley is included in Gilbert, and Ahwatukee and Desert Hills are included in Phoenix. A city needs at least 20 closings in the period to be listed at all.
All statistics are for single family detached homes recorded on ARMLS as sold in the city shown.
ARMLS Closings means the number of sales the median is computed from, over that same 365 day period. It is the denominator behind the figures beside it.
Annual Median $/SF Now means the median sales price per square foot computed for the homes sold in the most recently measured 365 day period. Each home's own price per square foot is used, and the median is the middle one of those.
Annual Median $/SF Last Year means the same measurement over the 365 day period one year earlier.
% Change is the first divided by the second, so the two columns shown always reproduce it.
If the period includes February 29 then 366 days is used instead of 365.