Just in Time for Christmas

A new report by the National Association of Realtors predicts existing-home sales will jump by 14% in 2026. That's because of a combination of dropping mortgage rates and improved market stability in addition to pent up demand.

"Next year is really the year that we will see a measurable increase in sales," said NAR National Economist Lawrence Yun. "Home prices nationwide are in no danger of declining.

Luxury Homes: Buying a New or Existing-Home

Buying a new home today is about more than fresh paint and modern finishes; it is a way to protect your investment, your time, and your lifestyle for years to come. In a market where prices are expected to remain resilient and demand is building, choosing new construction can be the smartest way to step confidently into the next housing cycle.

When buying new makes financial sense

When resale inventory is tight and economists expect sales to rise rather than fall, waiting on the sidelines can mean facing higher prices and more competition later. New construction offers the chance to lock in a property before the next wave of buyers arrives, often with pre-completion pricing that rewards those willing to act early. Because you are purchasing a home that aligns with current buyer preferences, you also position yourself for stronger resale appeal in the future.

New homes frequently include the latest energy-efficient systems, smart-home technology, and durable materials, which can reduce monthly operating costs and minimize surprise repairs. Instead of budgeting for a new roof, updated HVAC, or costly remodels over the next decade, you benefit from builder and systems warranties that cover many of the big-ticket items. Over time, that combination of lower maintenance and higher efficiency can offset much of the premium paid for new construction.

Lifestyle advantages you cannot retrofit easily

Modern buyers expect homes to support wellness, work, and play under one roof, and that is where new construction truly shines. Floor plans are being designed around wellness-oriented primary wings with spa-style baths, private offices, and spaces that can flex between a gym, nursery, or quiet retreat. These elements are difficult and expensive to retrofit into older homes, especially if the original layout was not conceived with them in mind.

Kitchens and living areas tell a similar story. Double-island kitchens, “dirty kitchens” for serious prep and catering, and great rooms that flow seamlessly to outdoor patios are now standard expectations at the luxury level. While you can remodel a dated kitchen, re-engineering structure, plumbing, and circulation to match the functionality of a thoughtfully designed new build is often disruptive and costly. Buying new means those choices are already optimized and integrated from day one.

Space planned for today’s families

New homes are responding to the realities of multigenerational living, hybrid work, and more time spent at home. Separate guest or children’s wings with their own living rooms create natural zones for privacy without fragmenting the house. Casitas and bonus suites offer flexible space for long-term guests, college-age children, or live-in help. These configurations are far less common in older resale homes, where additions or major renovations may be the only way to achieve similar functionality.

Garages and parking are also being reconsidered: larger garages, auto courts, and generous guest parking reflect the way people actually live—with multiple vehicles, recreational toys, and frequent visitors. Designing these elements into the original plan, rather than forcing them onto an existing lot, results in a cleaner streetscape and a more elegant daily experience.

Why Paradise Valley 

All of these advantages come into sharp focus in luxury markets like Paradise Valley, where one-acre lots, mountain views, and outdoor living are central to the lifestyle. Here, buying new often means securing a home that not only fits the land better but also maximizes views, light, and indoor-outdoor flow from the start. Instead of retrofitting an older structure to today’s expectations, you step into a property where architecture, landscape, and lifestyle were conceived together.

Case study, a new listing at 4901 E. Berneil was just posted last week. This new classic Traditional Santa Barbara design was a collaboration of some of the top names in PV and includes six ensuite bedrooms, a split primary wing with a separate office, gym or nursery in addition to a private wellness resort courtyard outside the bath. The guest wing is provided with its own living room, separate from the Primary occupants. A double-island gourmet kitchen plus dirty kitchen and high wood ceilings overlooks the great room. The 7,138 square foot home expands to a total of 9,544 square feet of under roof living for true Arizona indoor-outdoor living. There is also a poolside casita, and a 4-car garage with auto court—all on a one-acre plus homesite near Cherokee Elementary School, parks, golf, tennis and pickleball. Completion targeted for April 2026 and pre-completion pricing is available now. Choosing a home like this is not just choosing where to live; it is choosing a future-ready way of living that older homes rarely match.

#NewHomes #ParadiseValley #Arizona #NewConstruction #Luxury

The Phoenix Business Journal this week reported that PropertyShark — an online real estate database and research tool that provides data on properties for real estate professionals — has released its 10th edition of the annual 100 most expensive ZIP codes in the US report, ranking the country’s most expensive real estate based on closed-sale data.

Key Takeaways from the Report:

• Miami Beach’s Fisher Island (33109) became the country’s most expensive zip in 2025 with a $9.5 million median sale price, marking Florida’s first #1 finish.
• At $8.33M, Atherton, Calif. (94027) was the #2 priciest zip, ending its eight-year run as the country’s leading zip, followed by $5.93M Sagaponack, NY at #3
• Ten zips recorded medians above $5 million, twice as many as last year.
• California remained the dominant luxury market, representing 61% of the 100 priciest zips.
• Newport Beach was the most expensive city overall, with all six of its residential zips in the top 100
• Los Angeles tied with Greenwich, Conn. as the second-most expensive city, each contributing four zip codes
• The Bay Area retained the largest number of high-value zips with 32 in total, but continued to contract from its pre-pandemic peak.
• New York had one of its weakest showings in a decade with just 15 zips ranking and only three of those from NYC
• The Hamptons remained New York’s luxury anchor with nine Suffolk County zips in the top 100, including Sagaponack and Water Mill in the top 10.
• Connecticut contributed a record seven zips, surpassing Massachusetts for the first time
• Leading zips in New Jersey, Georgia and Washington surpass $4 million
• 15 states had zips among the 100 most expensive, most defined by coastal or island locations.

Paradise Valley Arizona's 85253 ZIP code ranks among nation's most expensive    

Paradise Valley is the only Arizona destination to make the list.·      

For the seventh consecutive year, 85253 is Arizona’s most expensive ZIP code. The Paradise Valley ZIP had an 8% year-over-year increase that elevated the desert enclave to a new record $3.5 million median sale price.·       In a separate study this year, 85253 ranked among the hottest housing markets in the nation, according to the Business Journals' first quarter analysis of nationwide markets based on a quarterly listing and sales data from Intercontinental Exchange.

• Previous Business Journal reporting has also given an early indication of the Valley's luxury market. In January it was reported that the 85253 ZIP had luxury sold prices jump 112% between 2019 and 2024 with continued momentum.  
• ·       This aligns with the Business Journal's 2025 Wealthy 1000 ZIP Codes report in September that ranked the ZIP code at No. 400. Per the study, the 85253 ZIP had the highest home value of $3,023,904 with 8,815 housing units.
• ·       To make the top 100, listings had to have a  minimum of $2 million median sale price, compared to five years ago, when fewer than 50 of the most exclusive ZIPs had reached that mark. Ten ZIP codes surpassed $5 million this year — all in California (7), New York (2) and Florida (1).
• ·       Paradise Valley’s 85253 ZIP code ranks No. 23 among the country’s most expensive communities,according to the October report from PropertyShark. 

Full PropertyShark report

And Why Your 1990s Gem Might Want to Hit the Market Yesterday

If you're selling a resale home in Paradise Valley right now, here are the stats that should keep you up at night: There are 101 active and coming-soon move-in ready listings of PV homes built in 2023 or earlier, averaging a cool $1,019 per square foot. Solid deals, right? But that does not include the 30 brand-new builds (2025–2026 vintage) already listed at a blistering $1,706 per square foot. And then there are those unpublished, unlisted 29+ homes under construction currently in PV for 2026 delivery.

Do the math: That's 59 shiny new competitors flooding the market—nearly 60% as many as the existing resale inventory. Sellers holding out for post-holiday magic? Buckle up. By January, you'll be swimming upstream against a tidal wave of turnkey palaces that make your 1995 beauty look like it's auditioning for a HGTV reno special. The thesis is simple: Sell now, before Paradise Valley logs its largest new-home inventory in history. Cash buyers are already circling, and they're not here to negotiate—they're here to pounce on the deals.

Buyers aren't blind to this. They've toured those gleaming new builds and come away with expectations dialed to 11. Every bedroom? Ensuitified like a Four Seasons hotel room. "Dirty" kitchens? More like butler pantries on HGH—hidden prep zones with pro-grade appliances and zero sightlines to the main event. Primary closets? We're talking 400+ square feet: his-and-hers islands, built-in jewelry vaults, and enough space for a six-person family reunion. Oh, and the wellness suite: infrared saunas steaming up, cold plunges at Arctic perfection, red-light therapy panels glowing like a sci-fi spa, plus circadian lights that sync your circadian rhythm to the saguaros outside.

Denise van den Bossche, a 40-year Paradise Valley real estate vet, nails the dilemma: "The biggest competition right now is new construction. Buyers have seen so much new inventory that their vision is completely skewed. They walk into a beautiful resale and immediately start mentally renovating it to match what they just toured for $1,700 a square foot. Most can't swing the new one outright, but that doesn't stop them from procrastinating on the resale—because in their heads, it's now 'lacking' those must-haves."

Enter buyer freeze: They crave the full wellness retreat, but their wallet whispers "1998 vibes only." So they tour endlessly, dream-scroll Zillow at 2 a.m., and ghost your showing. Days on market? Stretching from 30 to 90... to "let's just Airbnb it for the winter." Price cuts? They sting like the wasp we never realized we were allergic to.

That's where cash buyers strut in like the villains of a real estate thriller. No lender drama, no appraisal roulette, no 45-day limbo. They spot your stalled 1990s stunner—gorgeous bones, that epic mountain-view pool, zero HOA headaches—and think: Discounted canvas for my custom wellness wing. Their offer? Asking price minus $500K–$1M for the "upgrades" (read: gutting the master for a plunge pool and sauna cathedral). It's not personal; it's physics. With 59 new beasts incoming, they're betting you'll blink first.

The irony? Those cash offers often close faster than a Tesla Supercharger. And the new-build holdouts? They're the ones truly paralyzed, overpaying for features half of them won't use (looking at you, unused cold plunge gathering dust).

Paradise Valley sellers: If your home was born in the pre-iPhone era, listen up. An avalanche of brand-new, wellness-loaded spec houses is roaring down the mountain straight into 2026. Soon, every buyer who walks through your meticulously cared-for estate will be armed with a wish list they can’t actually afford—and they’ll happily dock your price for every missing cold plunge and sauna they’ve been hypnotized into believing is “standard.”

Cash is still king, “new” is the new crack, and right now your resale is being treated like the side salad nobody ordered. List today, while the competition is only 30 deep instead of double that. Beat the wave, grab the motivated (and slightly less delusional) buyers holiday shopping to beat the end of the year deadlines, and let the wellness warriors fight over the scraps next spring.

The clock is ticking louder than a red-light therapy panel.

This Month's National Luxury Home Marketing Report

The Luxury Market nationwide has continued to flourish throughout 2025. According to this month's stats from the national Luxury Housing Market Institute, “Luxury single-family sales in North America continued their upward momentum in October, with transactions rising 9.9% year-over-year and 6.5% month-over-month. This reinforces the pattern to date for 2025, where sales activity has outperformed 2024, suggesting a more engaged and motivated buyer pool.”

More Homes will come on the market in 2026 and Prices will Increase as Demand grows.

The National Association of Realtors report just out is one of many to make the headlines this month with the same message, prices are not expected to go down anytime soon.

According to the Report, "Existing home sales are expected to jump by 14% in 2026. 

Link to full article

The developer behind the Ritz-Carlton Paradise Valley is facing foreclosure and is once again engaged in litigation. According to the Phoenix Business Journal, Five Star Development filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on November 4 in the Southern District of Texas.

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