The East Valley market, in plain English.

The headline number for the Phoenix area says buyers have the edge. The East Valley does not read that way. On 9/15/26, sellers had the edge in Chandler, Mesa and Scottsdale, buyers and sellers were about even in Gilbert, and buyers had more room in Tempe and Queen Creek. Six cities, three different markets.

What they share is this. Homes that sell still get close to full asking price. Across the six cities, sellers took home about 96 to 98 cents on every dollar they asked (Cromford Report / ARMLS, single-family, data 9/15/26, analysis mine). The homes that sit are the ones asking more per square foot than buyers are paying.

Time to sell is where the cities split. The typical Mesa home took about 47 days to sell, down from 57 a year earlier (median, single-family, 9/15/26 vs 9/15/25). The typical Gilbert home took 65 days, up from 53 on the same basis and dates. More homes came on the market in Gilbert. Fewer did in Mesa.

My read: the market is not punishing sellers. It is punishing overpricing. Price to the last three closings on your street, not the neighbor’s asking price, and you are in the fast group. Buying? Move quickly on the well-priced home and negotiate on the one that has been sitting.

Sources: Cromford Report and ARMLS, data 9/15/26. Analysis and wording are mine; see how I read the numbers.

How to read the market without the jargon

1. The index versus your street. The Cromford index for a city tells you whether sellers or buyers have the edge across the whole city. Your street is a smaller market, so I use the index as a starting point and the last three closings near you as the answer.

1. The ask-versus-close gap. Sellers list at one price per square foot and buyers pay another, and the space between them is where homes sit. Homes priced at the closing number sell; homes priced at the asking number wait.

1. Median days versus average days. The median is the typical home, and the average is pulled up by the few that have sat for months. When the median falls and the average rises, priced-right homes are moving and overpriced ones are not.

1. Supply versus demand. A city’s index can rise because buyers showed up or because sellers went away, and those are very different markets. Strength built on scarcity fades as soon as listings return, so I always check which one is doing the work.