Prices, inventory, and demand — distilled every month into one clear verdict: buyer’s market or seller’s. The investor’s read, before you make an offer.
Yes, if you negotiate. Buyers have the upper hand in Tempe right now.
You have the upper hand in Tempe. Most homes for sale still have no buyer. Many sellers have already dropped their price once. Sellers are competing for you. Use it.
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 3 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 Tempe home takes 55 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 60+ days ago. There are 394 homes for sale in Tempe. That is 5.5 times the tightest month on record, but below the peak of 432. Supply is growing against last year.
Asking prices are 14.4% below their Jul 2023 peak. You are not buying at the top. Prices are still falling. Waiting has paid off so far. Let listings age, then come back lower. Tempe prices have risen in 87 of the last 108 months. Drops here have been short and shallow. Buying in a slow month has rarely hurt a long hold.
There is no rush. Prices are still coming down. Watch the homes you like. Come back after they cut. Let the seller move first.
Yes, if you negotiate. Buyers have the upper hand in Tempe right now. 0.32 out of every 100 homes for sale have a buyer, 32% of sellers have cut their price, and a typical home takes 55 days to sell.
Asking prices are 14.4% below their Jul 2023 peak. You are not buying at the top. Prices are still falling. Waiting has paid off so far. Let listings age, then come back lower.
+3.4%/yr. 1 year: +1.1% · 5 years: +3.4% · ten years: +6.4%. Do not use the ten-year rate. Most of that growth landed in the 2020 and 2021 boom. The five-year rate is what Tempe does without one. Underwrite closer to +3.4%. Measure growth per square foot. Tempe median list price grew 4.0% a year, but price per square foot grew 6.4%. 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.
A typical Tempe home takes 55 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 60+ days ago.
85288. Only 16 out of 100 homes there have a buyer, 39% have cut their price, and a typical home takes 62 days to sell.
Where it isn't: 85284 ranks #7,289 in the country for buyer demand. Expect the least room to negotiate there.
ZIP 85281 is on both lists. That is rare. It is the one place in Tempe where leverage and growth overlap.
| ZIP | $/sqft, 2 yrs | $/sqft now | Buyers per home | For sale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85281 | +1.3% | $356 | 0.21 | 110 |
| 85283 | -0.5% | $302 | 0.47 | 79 |
| 85288 | -3.0% | $346 | 0.16 | 64 |
| 85284 | -3.4% | $314 | 0.47 | 30 |
| 85282 | -4.7% | $289 | 0.39 | 111 |
Computed from each ZIP's own ten-year history. ZIPs with fewer than 10 homes for sale are excluded: a median across a handful of listings is noise, not a signal.
Closest matches on asking price, price per square foot, days to sell, buyer demand, and price cuts.
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