By MacKenzie Brower | Daily Independent
Paradise Valley’s luxury housing market is unlike much of the Valley, as many wealthy buyers are unaffected by high interest rates and pay cash; however, real estate professionals say there is an issue with a lack of inventory and climbing prices at a median of $2.5 million and $3.5 million.
“I feel like we have a clogged market – like a chessboard with no place to go,” said Joan Levinson. “PV prices have gone up substantially and we have a very large lack of inventory that’s really driving the market more than anything else.”
Levinson has 35 years of experience in luxury real estate. She has sold many estates in Paradise Valley and can likely tell prospective buyers the last three people who have lived in a house. She also handles pocket listings for private buyers.
It’s a seller’s market in Paradise Valley right now, according to Butch Leiber, president of Phoenix Realtors and managing broker of Realty Executives with 20 years of experience.
However, some sellers are struggling to put their homes on the market because they haven’t found what they want or where they’re going to move, added Scott Grigg, founder of The Grigg’s Group with 16 years in real estate, primarily in the luxury market.
The lack of inventory is due to multiple factors, according to Levinson, who says about half of the high-end properties in active listings are sitting in paper not built or under construction, and those that are available are not the style, age or location people want. And builders are trying to buy the least expensive lot to build the most expensive home in areas that haven’t demanded those prices.
“The wealthier you get, the more locational you get,” Levinson said. “There’s a variety of really good places, but a lot of people, if they’ve lived here, want to stay in similar neighborhoods and some of the properties aren’t built yet and some of the properties are overpriced, so it makes it difficult.”
