Research

Original research on Arizona’s luxury market

Data-mined studies built from the full Arizona Regional MLS record — not market commentary, but the complete history, counted. Every study publishes its data rules and methods in full.

The Marta Walsh Index · week ending Sep 4 This week’s reading →
112.8 Normal — your price decides
ColdNormal · 100 = 5-yr normFrenzy
The paper · August 2026
One Shot: What 39,000 Listings and 25 Years of MLS Data Say About Pricing Arizona’s Luxury Market
The first published full-history pricing study of Arizona’s $2M+ market. Nearly half of all selling campaigns fail. The “priced right, sells in days” rule is false at every tier. And the discount is taken in public — before the buyer ever writes an offer.
Nine findings · 29,322 campaigns · 1998–2026 · 14-page PDF

Short studies

Focused analyses drawn from the same dataset — one living weekly gauge, and single-question studies. Each states its own method and scope.

Study · August 2026
The Market Prices Evidence, Not Ambition
Across 37,688 luxury listings, the market rescued an unrealistic price almost never. 56% of listings fail; even the winners discount 6.7% from ask. Raising an unproven price fails 60% of the time — while a resale anchored to a completed sale rises 81% of the time. The market prices what a buyer has paid, not what a seller hopes.
37,688 listings · 2008–2026 · method & limits published
Living study · updated Fridays
The Marta Walsh Index: A Weekly Health Gauge for the $2M+ Market
Supply against demand, corrected for season and measured against the tier’s own norm — back-tested to 2005, refreshed every Friday. Includes the off-market shadow pool no other gauge counts.
Weekly · methods fixed August 2026 · full backtest
Short study · August 2026
The New Market: Arizona Ultra-Luxury Became Its Own Category
Two decades of 0–3 sales a year above $10M; fifty-one by late August 2026 — into a below-normal market. Half of them homes that didn’t exist two years ago, 82% in two places. The measurements that make a segment.
153 closings 2023–26 · constant-quality tested · 2026 partial
Short study · August 2026
You Make Your Own Market: Launch-Week Conditions and 21,978 Campaign Outcomes
From a market a third below normal to one at two-and-a-half times normal, the share of luxury launches that ever sold moved four points. The extremes decide; everywhere else, the ask does.
21,978 campaigns · 2005–2024 · era-split validation
Short study · August 2026
The Word That Left: Master to Primary in Arizona Listings
For twenty-two years, every Arizona luxury listing that named the room called it the master. Then, in nineteen quarters, it was gone. A vocabulary replacement dated to the quarter — and a look at whether it moved by firm, by agent, or neither.
11,239 listings · 1998–2026

Every study on this page, the index values and the weekly data file are licensed CC BY 4.0. Free to use, republish and build on, including commercially, with attribution. Terms and citation format.