Where our numbers come from
Every statistic on this site is computed from government public records. We would rather show you an honest range with named sources than an impressive number we can't defend.
Primary data sources
- →Sold prices: Sold prices are from public Affidavits of Property Value recorded with the Maricopa County Recorder (A.R.S. § 11-1133). These are the closest thing to ground truth in Arizona real estate: a sworn affidavit of what a buyer and seller agreed on, filed within 60 days of close of escrow.
- →Property characteristics: Property characteristics are from the Maricopa County Assessor.
- →Ownership structure: The Maricopa County Assessor's owner-occupancy flag, owner type (individual vs. entity), and the tax-mailing address on each parcel. This is how we separate owner-occupants from absentee, out-of-state, and corporate owners.
What we compute — and how
Comparable sales (comps)
For a given address, we identify recent recorded sales of similar homes within the same neighborhood (bed/bath/sqft range, same subdivision cluster), recorded in the last 90 days. These are the actual comps a licensed agent would pull — not an algorithm's output. We display them verbatim with the recorded price, date, square footage, and address.
Neighborhood medians
Median sold price, price per square foot, and sales count are computed from display-eligible recorded deeds (county affidavits only) across the trailing 12 months. We suppress medians when a neighborhood has fewer than 5 recorded sales (thin-data flag).
Investor and out-of-state share
“Investor share” is the percentage of parcels where the grantee (buyer) is an entity rather than a named individual — LLCs, corporations, trusts. “Out-of-state share” is the percentage of parcels where the tax-mailing address is outside Arizona. Both come from the County Assessor's ownership database.
Sale-to-assessed-value ratio
The median ratio of recorded sale price to the County Assessor's Full Cash Value (FCV) at the time of sale. A ratio above 1.0 means homes are selling above their county valuation; below 1.0 means below it. This is a diagnostic for the assessor's accuracy, not a valuation tool.
Known limits — read this
- !Sales recorded with an exemption under A.R.S. § 11-1134 have no public affidavit and are not included; sold data is therefore not a complete census of sales.
- !Our value estimates are data estimates, not appraisals. Public records can't see your home's condition, renovation quality, or upgrades, which can move a final price by tens of thousands of dollars. That is why we show a range and recommend a licensed agent's comparative market analysis for a precise number.
- !We don't publish days-on-market: it requires listing data we deliberately don't use. We publish recorded-sale velocity (sales per quarter) instead.
- !Pinal County coverage is supplementary. Maricopa County has a weekly affidavit feed; Pinal County batch uploads are less frequent. San Tan Valley and Maricopa city data may lag Maricopa County data by 4–8 weeks.
How often it updates
Statistics are recomputed when county records refresh. Every data page shows a “data through” date — the latest recorded-deed month included — which changes only when the underlying numbers actually change. Statistics pages receive a substantive update approximately monthly (when new deed batches are ingested). Articles receive a content update when a new batch materially changes the conclusion, not on a cosmetic calendar schedule. Everything is computed automatically from the public record — there are no hand-entered figures.
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