A new Common Sense Institute report gives Arizona a “C-” housing grade for 2025, finding that while home prices declined 2.9% last year, they remain roughly 11% above pre-pandemic trends at an average of $420,900 statewide. Only 42% of Arizona households can currently afford the monthly mortgage on an average-priced home, down sharply from 66% in 2019, and households need an annual household income of about $87,000 to qualify. Residential permitting fell 14% in 2025 to the slowest pace since 2019, and researchers estimate it could take more than a century at current rates to close the state’s estimated 110,000-unit long-term housing deficit.
