A monthly market letter

The East Valley Monthly

Chandler · Gilbert · Scottsdale

One email a month. The real numbers with the month and the source printed on them, what they actually change for a buyer and for a seller, and what is on locally, every event checked against the city or organiser's own page.

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October 2026 issue

Fewer homes for sale in Chandler, and buyers still not paying up

The number to watch this month is not the price. It is how few homes are actually for sale.

Chandler is down to 2.86 months of supply, about 17 percent tighter than a year ago. And the median sale price still came in at $506,000, down 6.7 percent from last August. Fewer homes on the market, and buyers holding their ground on price.

Those two facts sitting next to each other are the whole story of this market right now, and what I would do about it depends entirely on which side of a move you are on.

The numbers

Median sale price, days on market and months of supply for Chandler, Gilbert and Scottsdale
City	Median sale	Year over year	Days on market	Months of supply
Chandler	$506,000	-6.7%	71	2.86
Gilbert	$586,900	+3.8%	79	3.36
Scottsdale	$882,500	+11.4%	105	3.70

ARMLS, August 2026, pulled 2026-09-05. Days on market is average cumulative days on market, and year over year compares to August 2025. All information should be verified by the recipient and none is guaranteed as accurate by ARMLS.

Chandler is the tightest of the three on supply and the softest on price. Chandler is the only one of the three where the median fell. Gilbert is up 3.8 percent and Scottsdale up 11.4 percent, and Scottsdale also takes the longest to sell. Across the whole ARMLS footprint, pending sales are down 35.1 percent from last year, and Gilbert on its own is down 36 percent. That is forward demand, and forward demand moves first.

If you are thinking of selling

Under three months of inventory in Chandler means less competition on your street than you have had in a couple of years. It does not mean buyers will stretch. The homes closing near their asking price are the ones priced to the last 45 days of comps, not to last spring. So before you pick a listing date, the first thing I would do is run your real net proceeds against what your next house actually costs. That is the whole Home-First Move-Up Plan, and it takes one conversation.

If you are thinking of buying

Pending sales across the ARMLS footprint fell 35.1 percent year over year, so the pool you are bidding against is thinner than it was. In Chandler the typical home sells in 45 days and the average is 71, and the slower half of that range is where there is room to ask for things. About two thirds of Chandler's August sales were in the move-up bands between $400,000 and $1 million, which is also where the most choice is. And if you are buying and selling at the same time, we sequence the two so you are never carrying both.

Events this month

What is happening in October

Every event below was checked against the city or the organiser's own page. Dates, times and venues do change, so each link goes straight to the source.

Friday, October 2
Ballet Under the Stars
7 p.m., activities and food trucks from 5 p.m. · Tumbleweed Park, 2250 S. McQueen Road, Chandler · Free
Classical through contemporary on an outdoor stage. Get there early for the food trucks.
Details on the official page · checked 2026-09-26
Friday, October 2
Pop Punk Picnic
6 p.m. · Scottsdale Civic Center, 7380 E. 2nd Street, Scottsdale · Free, all ages
Live pop punk covers from Mike Goodrick, local food vendors, a cocktail garden and photo booths, outdoors at the Civic Center.
Details on the official page · checked 2026-09-26
Friday, October 9
Sound Bites Music & Food Festival
4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., parking opens at 4 p.m. · Gilbert Regional Park, 3005 E. Queen Creek Road, Gilbert · $50 standard, $60 on the day
Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors and Wyves, with craft brews and food trucks. Two things worth knowing: only ticketed people get into the park at all that day, and parking is $20 a car on top of the ticket. Under 12 is free but still needs a ticket.
Details on the official page · checked 2026-09-26
Saturday, October 17
Chandler Contigo Finale Fiesta
9 a.m. to 12 p.m. · Downtown Library, 22 S. Delaware Street, Chandler · Free
The closing event of Chandler's Hispanic Heritage Month programming, celebrating the city's Mexican American culture.
Details on the official page · checked 2026-09-26
Every Saturday in October
Gilbert Farmers Market
8 a.m. to 12 p.m. · Chandler-Gilbert Community College campus, 2626 E. Pecos Road, Chandler
Two changes worth knowing if you have not been in a while. The market left downtown Gilbert in October 2025 after fifteen years and now runs on the college campus at Pecos and Gilbert Road. And winter hours start this month, so it is 8 to 12 now instead of 7 to 11. Pets are not allowed on campus.
Details on the official page · checked 2026-09-26

What did not make the list this month

Concerts in the Park in Gilbert, on the Thursdays through October. The town's calendar gives the name, date and time but no venue and no cost, and the row links to no detail page.
The Smoke Show on October 24 at Gilbert Regional Park. Listed on the town calendar, but ticketing and times could not be confirmed on the event's own page, and a companion listing shows the park closed from October 23 through the morning of the 25th.
Three Scottsdale Arts events in October. The listing page gives date and time only, and the venue and cost live on individual pages that were not opened on this pass.
All Tempe events. The city moved its URLs and the replacement calendar loads its month grid in a way that would not read out. Tempe is a secondary market here, so it was skipped rather than guessed at.

If an event could not be confirmed on an official page, it is left out rather than guessed at.

At home this month

One to cook and one to plant

From the kitchen

Green chile chicken, one pot

The first month you can stand over a stove again, this is the one. Brown six bone-in chicken thighs in a heavy pot, skin down, and take them out. Soften a chopped onion in the fat, then add four cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of cumin and two cups of roasted green chiles, peeled and chopped. Put the chicken back in with two cups of stock, cover, and let it go 35 minutes. Shred it right in the pot. Serve it over rice with lime and whatever herbs are still alive in the yard.

One to do with the kids

Plant radishes this weekend

October is the planting month down here. The heat has broken and the soil is still warm, and radishes run 30 to 60 days from seed to pulled, which is short enough that a child stays interested. Rake a patch smooth, push the seeds in about half an inch deep and an inch apart, water it, and let them check it every morning. Lettuce, carrots and spinach all go in this month too, so the same twenty minutes plants all four.

Planting window and days to harvest: University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Vegetable Planting Calendar for Maricopa County, az1005, revised 9/18.

The East Valley Monthly

Fewer homes for sale in Chandler, and buyers still not paying up

What is happening in October

Ballet Under the Stars

Pop Punk Picnic

Sound Bites Music & Food Festival

Chandler Contigo Finale Fiesta

Gilbert Farmers Market

One to cook and one to plant

Green chile chicken, one pot

Plant radishes this weekend

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