Scottsdale is always in demand, thus it tends to fair better then the valley as a whole and most of the other cities in Greater Phoenix. 

For instance: long term appreciation in Greater Phoenix (annual appreciation since 2001) is 3.4% while in Scottsdale it's 7.2%:  Year on year appreciation or depreciation in Greater Phoenix is -24% while in Scottsdale it's -20.6%. 

It's a desirable city and it was also less prone to speculation and sub-prime loans or the misuse of sub-prime loans and creative loans.  None of those things singularly make a difference but combined put Scottsdale in a better position to weather the downturn though not unharmed.

In December 2008 a total of 226 home sold.  That is quite an upsurge from the 182 sold in November 2008: it's also higher then the 195 in December 2007 but lower then the 308 sales in 2006.

Pending sales are a bit lower but still foreshadow a decent January 2009.  What is concerning is the higher supply of inventory.  It is at 3,829.  It was higher in November at 4,102 it still represents a supply of 19 months of supply.  That is a significant oversupply and will put pressure on pricing. 

The median price is now $500,000: down from $509,000 the previous month and down a lot from $629,000 the previous year.  It's important though not to put too much weight into this number as it can easuly be skewed by more lower priced sales.  The price per square foot is a better measure.  December was at $244: November at $249: and December 2007 at $293: but December 2006 was lower at $289.

Prices did continue to climb a bit longer in Scottsdale then other parts of the valley.  It was the starter homes that first began to fall and soon dragged down move-up homes and the financing markets took care of luxury homes.

If it were not for the lender owned homes Scottsdale would be in a stronger position but so would the valley.  Scottsdale, though, has a smaller number of active lender owned homes and a smaller percentage of sold lender owned homes.  8% of active homes are lender owned: 12% are pre-foreclosure. 

Of home sold 32% were lender owned and 13% were pre-foreclosure leaving the bulk of sales as normal while the valley as a whole has a combined 72% lender owned and pre-foreclosures sales.