Prescott, Arizona Housing Market

How much can you negotiate in Prescott?

Only 32 out of every 100 homes for sale have found a buyer. The other 68 are still waiting. Your offer may be the only one on the table. About 1 in 4 sellers has already dropped their price. Each one has learned their first price was too high. Start below their new price, not their old one.

A typical Prescott home takes 62 days to find a buyer. Half of them take even longer. Those sellers are paying to own a house they want to sell. Search for homes listed 90+ days ago. There are 606 homes for sale in Prescott. That is 5.7 times the tightest month on record, but below the peak of 716. Supply is shrinking against last year.

What to do about it

• Search Prescott homes listed 90+ days ago that have already cut their price.
• Offer below the reduced price.
• Keep your inspection and financing contingencies.
• Ask the seller to pay closing costs.
• You can lose a few offers here and still win.

Is now a good time to buy in Prescott?

Asking prices are 7.0% below their Mar 2022 peak. You are not buying at the top. Prices stopped falling about a year ago. They are flat now. Waiting will not get you a cheaper house. It might still get you a more motivated seller. Prescott prices have risen in 84 of the last 108 months. Drops here have been short and shallow. Buying in a slow month has rarely hurt a long hold.

The discount is already here. It is not getting bigger. Buy now while sellers are still weak. Waiting for a lower price stopped working a year ago.

What numbers should you underwrite a Prescott deal with?

• Price growth to assume — +3.7%/yr. 1 year: +0.1% · 5 years: +3.7% · ten years: +6.6%. Do not use the ten-year rate. Most of that growth landed in the 2020 and 2021 boom. The five-year rate is what Prescott does without one. Underwrite closer to +3.7%. Measure growth per square foot. Prescott median list price grew 4.8% a year, but price per square foot grew 6.6%. The gap is smaller homes, not weaker growth. The house you buy will not shrink. The one-year rate is a timing signal. It is not an underwriting input.
• Months of carrying cost — 3. A typical home takes 62 days to sell. Budget that long when you exit or refinance.
• Odds you cut your price to sell — 1 in 4. About 26% of homes on the Prescott market right now have already cut their asking price. Assume you are one of them when you sell. Do not underwrite an exit at your asking price.
• Comp on this, not median price — $352/sqft. The typical Prescott listing shrank from 2,601 to 2,254 sqft since Jul 2016. So median price hides real growth: 88% per sqft versus 59% on the median. Comp on median price and you will overpay for small homes.
• Competition when you exit — -13%. That is how much the number of homes for sale shrank in a year. Your resale will face a smaller crowd than today's comps did.

Is Prescott a buyer's or seller's market in 2026?

Yes, if you negotiate. Buyers have the upper hand in Prescott right now. 0.32 out of every 100 homes for sale have a buyer, 26% of sellers have cut their price, and a typical home takes 62 days to sell.

Are Prescott home prices going up or down?

Asking prices are 7.0% below their Mar 2022 peak. You are not buying at the top. Prices stopped falling about a year ago. They are flat now. Waiting will not get you a cheaper house. It might still get you a more motivated seller.

What price growth should I assume for Prescott?

+3.7%/yr. 1 year: +0.1% · 5 years: +3.7% · ten years: +6.6%. Do not use the ten-year rate. Most of that growth landed in the 2020 and 2021 boom. The five-year rate is what Prescott does without one. Underwrite closer to +3.7%. Measure growth per square foot. Prescott median list price grew 4.8% a year, but price per square foot grew 6.6%. The gap is smaller homes, not weaker growth. The house you buy will not shrink. The one-year rate is a timing signal. It is not an underwriting input.

How fast are homes selling in Prescott?

A typical Prescott home takes 62 days to find a buyer. Half of them take even longer. Those sellers are paying to own a house they want to sell. Search for homes listed 90+ days ago.