Here's how much square footage $375,000 can buy in Arizona cities

Source: Phoenix Business Journal | Angela Gonzales

With mortgage interest rates hovering under 7% these days, homebuyers are back out shopping for their dream home.

To help buyers determine where they can get the most bang for their buck, RealtyHop conducted a study to show how much square footage a buyer can get for $375,000 — the national median home price.

It's no surprise California is the most space-constrained state, with 11 out of the 20 cities showing the most expensive price per square foot. For example, San Francisco gets the least amount of space — at 374 square feet for $375,000.

It's also no surprise many of these California residents are flocking to Arizona, where in some cities they can get three times the amount of square footage.

But that's if you can find one before someone else snatches it up.

As of May 1, there were 12,322 homes actively listed on the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, which means there's a little more than a month's supply of homes on the market in metro Phoenix, said Carson Eilers, designated broker for Scottsdale-based Original Realty Co.

"We faced the same problem this time last year," Eilers said. "Ending April of 2022, we only had 1.16 months of inventory. And that led to a peak in home prices last year around June when new, higher interest rates began to hit the market. Inventory increased a lot last year at this time."

Valley median price now lower

While HopRealty shows a national median sale price of $375,000, ARMLS is showing a median sale price of $419,900 in metro Phoenix as of April 1, down 7.9% from $456,000 this time last year, but up 1.7% from March 2023, Eilers said.

Looking at homes actively listed on ARMLS in metro Phoenix and those that are coming soon, there's a combined 12,890 homes, compared with nearly 5,000 last year, Eilers said.

Of those, 10,868 homes are priced under $1 million.

Breaking it down even further, about half of those nearly 13,000 homes are priced under $500,000, Eilers said. To be exact, 6,414 homes have a minimum price bid of $500,000, while 6,478 homes have a maximum price of $499,999.

RealtyHop analyzed home price data from more than 1.5 million for-sale listings between January 2023 and March 2023. A median price was determined for each city. Here's what RealtyHop found across seven cities in Arizona, ranked from lowest median price per square foot to the highest:

Tucson

• 2023 median price/square foot: $206.55
• Square footage for $375K: 1,881
• Year-over-year change: 3.59%

• Glendale

  • 2023 median price/square foot: $255.36
  • Square footage for $375K: 1,481
  • Year-over-year change: 0.86%

  Mesa

  • 2023 median price/square foot: $269.19
  • Square footage for $375K: 1,465
  • Year-over-year change: 5.16%

  • Gilbert

    • 2023 median price/square foot: $282.62
    • Square footage for $375K: 1,319
    • Year-over-year change: -0.62%

    Chandler

    • 2023 median price/square foot: $289.86
    • Square footage for $375K: 1,291
    • Year-over-year change: -0.2%

    • Phoenix

      • 2023 median price/square foot: $290.07
      • Square footage for $375K: 1,316
      • Year-over-year change: 1.8%

      Scottsdale

      • 2023 median price/square foot: $419.23
      • Square footage for $375K: 936
      • Year-over-year change: 4.67%

      Source: RealtyHop