By MacKenzie Brower | Town of Paradise Valley Independent
While summers are typically slow in Arizona and home sales have declined in the United States overall, migrants have kept the housing market moving in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley the past few months.
Because of the extremely hot temperatures, it’s difficult to show properties to buyers in the summers, according to real estate experts. This summer has been particularly miserable, according to luxury real estate expert Joan Levinson.
“I will say personally that I’ve had a whole variety of clients who were supposed to come and take a look at properties, and when they saw the weather, they decided to continue their vacations in Europe or elsewhere and hold off coming,” Levinson said.
Many residents, including Realtors themselves, travel out of Scottsdale and Paradise Valley in the summer because many are also snowbirds who own second homes. Levinson said she thinks another reason for a slower market this year is because of uncertainty with elections1.
So, with many people not here or waiting until the fall season to look at homes, many properties are taken off the market in the summer.
“With our inventory issue and the amount of people migrating here for a better quality of life, it did stay busy this summer,” said Scott Grigg, founder of The Grigg’s Group powered by The Altman Brothers.
For example, Grigg has a project called Seven Desert Mountain with 33 new homes in North Scottsdale where the market typically slows in the summer. Surprisingly, he said he sold two homes there for about $6.6 million and $4 million, respectively, within the last 30 days.
Both buyers were from other states.
Levinson said she did well in June and July, closing 51 homes equivalent to about $67 million. Three of the properties were over $11 million and she’s currently closing another for $16 million.
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