Wholesaler · Member since 2026 · 9 posts · 2 votes
For someone who is looking to sell property in Phoenix, is the city and surrounding area in a sellers or buyers market currently? Do buyers have more negotiating power due to the holiday season coming and the market slowing down?
For someone selling property in Phoenix, my starting assumption for late October 2026 would be that buyers may have more negotiating power than they did in a strongly competitive seller's market. The key question is how much leverage they have in the specific neighborhood and price range.
You're also right to consider the holiday season. As November and December approach, some buyers and sellers pause their searches or postpone moves until January. That can reduce competition for listings, but it doesn't automatically mean every Phoenix property will sell below asking price.
The important distinction is between a market where sellers must negotiate and one where sellers are forced to accept low offers. Those are very different situations.The newest reports available as of October 27, 2026, point to a market with more competition among sellers and greater room for buyers to negotiate.
My advice to someone selling a property now is to price against recent sold properties, make the property stand out, and negotiate the entire offer because the highest offer isn't always the best one.
Very much a buyer's market. Seller's should expect to pay at least 2% in concessions, I just had a seller pay 6% in concessions to an FHA buyer. If you need to sell, you have to push through, price well, and have your property stand out. If you can hold on for the next few years, I would consider going that route depending on why you need to sell.
@Salih Muhammad it depends. Overall it’s closer to a buyers market, but almost balanced. The seasonal slowdown this year was sharper than normal because interest rates spiked, but rates have started to come back down a little bit. The biggest factors are location, condition and price. Good properties in good areas that are priced right are selling; properties that are overpriced for the location and conditions are sitting and having to do price drops and contribute more concessions; so it depends. Can you keep the property as a rental? You might make more money holding it, something to consider.
@Salih Muhammad I can't speak to Phoenix, I'm in Louisville, but what Josh described sounds a lot like what we're seeing here, so maybe it helps as a comparison.
On paper, Louisville is technically still a seller's market. We're at about 3 months of supply in Jefferson County, and most people would call 5 or 6 balanced. Prices haven't really dropped either. But the feel on the ground is completely different than it was a year or two ago. Inventory has been creeping up all year. It's up close to 40% from last September in the city, and months of supply went from about 2.3 to 3.0. Houses are racking up days on market too. When I pulled our active listings last week, about one in four had been sitting 90 days or more, and a lot of them have already had at least one price cut.
So the numbers still say seller's market, but buyers are acting like they have options, because they do. The clean, well-priced houses in good areas still go quick. Everything else sits, and those sellers end up cutting the price or paying concessions. That's where buyers have the leverage right now.
If you're selling, I'd price off what's actually closed recently, not what's listed, because the listings that are sitting aren't telling you much. And Josh's question is a good one. If you can hold it as a rental through the winter or longer, that's worth running the numbers on before you list.