The Scottsdale real estate market, which is often analyzed together with the larger Phoenix area and Valley real estate markets, continued to face a number of serious problems as the first half of the year comes to a close. According to a May 14, 2010 article from the Arizona Republic, “Scottsdale home prices continue to fall even as the Valley resale housing market has seen a 5.5 percent increase in prices from January to April. Scottsdale’s median home price was $360,000 in April, down 10 percent from a year ago and a dip of 3.2 percent from January, according to an Arizona State University Realty Studies monthly report released this week.” The piece by Peter Corbett went on to say that “Foreclosures, short sales and fix-and-flip deals on recently foreclosed properties continue to drag down the Scottsdale market, making it harder for traditional sellers to get good prices for their homes.”

Although the number of foreclosures in the Phoenix area and the Valley remains high, their effect on Scottsdale homes for sale may be less pronounced than previously, according to a May 13, 2010 report from KTAR News. This piece found that “Arizona continued to rank high in housing foreclosures – second only to Nevada – but there is one indication the situation may be getting better. Notices of foreclosure sales – the early stage of foreclosure – in Phoenix were down 17 percent from a year ago in the latest report from RealtyTrac.” The piece, written by Jeremy Foster, continued to note that “The number of properties actually in foreclosure are up nearly 60 percent from this time a year ago, but the number of people entering foreclosure is down almost 20 percent…He believes foreclosure numbers in the Valley will remain high for the rest of this year.”

The rate of home resales in the Scottsdale and Valley real estate markets increased slightly in the month of April, according to a May 12, 2010 article in the Arizona Republic. This piece, written by Dawn Gilbertson, noted that “There were 6,765 resales of detached single-family homes in the month, up nearly 2 percent from 6,640 in April 2009, according to the monthly Realty Studies report from Arizona State University.”