The dots in this chart above reflect the number of Scottsdale home sales in the previous 12 months. From cumulative sales of 5,086 in January 2001, to a peak of 6,915 in March 2005, and then a valley of 2,938 that extended from February 2008 to April 2009, the total number surpassed the 5,000 mark in November 2011.

Definitely good news for local real estate.

Taking a closer look, you’ll see that the Scottsdale real estate market has a seasonal fluctuation that peaks in the spring selling season.  Here you can see that from 2001 through 2011, the peak selling months in Scottsdale initially averaged about 600 home sales, peaking in 2003 at about 750, plummeting to a peak of just over 300 in 2007, finally approaching “normal” as of 2011.

2012 just may be the year that 600+ homes are sold in the peak month.

With the huge amount of business that seems to be flowing to me and the other agents that I work with in Scottsdale and the surrounding cities, it seems that this spring is could be a significant turning point in our market.

We can hope!

From a broader perspective, the trend is definitely to the positive, with a few intermittent months of plus-side appreciation, but still running in the negative overall.

Sellers need to keep this perspective in mind as they list their homes to sell in over the next couple of months.  Spring is Scottsdale’s biggest selling season and buyers are definitely keeping on top of the market. Writing offers that hold tight to what their perception of the local real estate market is today.

During the past four days, 45 single family homes were listed in Scottsdale:

Scottsdale Single Family Homes – New to Market Listings

and 41 price reductions took place:

Scottsdale Single Family Homes – Price Reductions

Many people assume that real estate transactions slow down over the holidays, but in reality, the sellers that are listing over the holidays are motivated, and so are the buyers. As of this morning, 12 new contracts are showing up for Scottsdale in the MLS, and that number will probably increase as the day goes on.

So while the rest of the country focuses on the retail markets, maybe it’s really time to focus on real estate, and you can start your Scottsdale Real Estate Search here!

However, there are a couple challenges with foreclosures right now.

1. There just are not very many foreclosures (REOs) on the market Scottsdale.
2. Banks are shifting from foreclosures to short sales, because they tend to lose less on this type of sale.

If you look around the Greater Phoenix area, and compare distressed sales by city, Scottsdale definitely has fewer lender owned sales (as a percentage), than all other cities, except Anthem, Sun City West, and Sun Lakes.   If you add in short sales, the cities with less fewer total distressed sales include the three cities mentioned, plus Gold Canyon and Sun City.

When you look at the October 2011 statistics for Scottsdale Single Family Home sales (below), you see that of the a very small percentage of homes listed for sale are lender owned foreclosures.  With only 107 foreclosures listed as of November 1st, and 75 sold in the prior month, it’s clear that the supply of lender owned properties is dwindling in the city.

Here’s a quick look at the home market composition for Scottsdale 85250, located just north of Fashion Square and south of McCormick Ranch. As of the beginning of the month there were approximately 40 homes with foreclosures pending, where notice has been filed, but the sale has not occurred. Some number of these homes are certainly listed in the local MLS as short sales. The number of pending sales is down by 50% since the beginning of the year.

Looking at the number of homes where the banks have foreclosed (REOs), but have not been listed on the market yet, you’ll see there a grand total of five as of the first of the month. Miniscule.

Next, you’ll see the number of homes that are actually listed for sale on the MLS as foreclosures.  Again for the Scottsdale 85250 zip code. Five single family homes are currently available for sale as of the first of the month.

Looking at foreclosures that are under contract, you’ll see there are four. Not a huge number at all, and I would bet that most of those properties receive multiple offers on them.  The competition for the dwindling supply is fierce.

Going through the rest of the Scottsdale zip codes, moving from south to north, you’ll see that the situation is for the most part very similar.

Starting in the South Scottsdale zip code of 85257, you can see that REOs supply is way down, with only 10 single family homes listed as of the first of November, and 20 more that are not yet listed. With a combined total of 80 homes last year at this time, it’s clear that the supply of REO properties is dwindling here.

Next, in the Scottsdale zip code 85251, there are 5 bank-owned single family homes on the market, with twelve more that haven’t been listed yet. Supply is also much lower than at the beginning of the year.

Bank-owned activity in central Scottsdale (85258) has been more sporadic, but definitely on a downward trend, but consistently very low, hovering around 5 active REOs, and 5 unlisted REO’s.

Further north, in Scottsdale 85254, the number of available foreclosures is fewer than 20, and has been decreasing rapidly over the past year.

Around the Scottsdale Air Park, REO’s show an even more striking downward trend, also showing a cuurent cumulative total of about 20 units.

Even the affluent, Northeast Scottsdale zip code of 85259 is seeing a dramatic decrease in lender-owned listings and (hopefully) soon to be listed properties, which currently number about 20.

In North Scottsdale zip code 85255, The number of active lender owned listings has decreased over the year, however, total number of active and unlisted REOs, about 60, has remained fairly steady throughout the year. Very much the exception to what is being experienced in the rest of the city.

Finally, both of the two northernmost Scottsdale zip codes of 85262 and 85266, are also experiencing a decrease in lender owned homes. As of the 1st of November, only 15 REOs were listed, with 20 more taken back by the bank, but not yet listed.

All in all, it’s an encouraging story. And, with the banks focusing more on short sales, I think 2012 is going to be a year of positive change for the Scottsdale real estate market. Buyer will shift their focus from the foreclosure market and begin looking much more seriously at short and typical sales. Definitely seems like a step towards a more normal (and healthy) market.

View current Scottsdale Foreclosures for Sale.

More on the Scottsdale real estate market

• “Wish I could say Scottsdale home sales prices were holding steady”
• Lots of Home Showings in North Scottsdale
• Having a hard time finding a house to buy in Scottsdale?

In addition to being named 4th best city in the U.S by BusinessWeek.com this week, the city captured a few more awards for art, innovation, and more.

Scottsdale’s landmark Soleri Bridge and Plaza captured two top honors at the Valley Forward Association’s Environmental Excellence Awards. The Soleri Bridge and Plaza captured top spot in both the Art in Public Places and Site Development and Landscape categories.

• Learn more about the project by watching this video: http://scottsdale.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=48&clip_id=2671.

Three other Scottsdale projects received awards of merit in the competition: The 96th Street Improvement Project, the Southern Scottsdale Character Area Plan and the Appaloosa Branch Library.

• Get more info at http://valleyforward.org/news/48/.

The city earned a Gold Bicycle Friendly Community designation from the League of American Bicyclists. Scottsdale earned the title for achievements in engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement and evaluation and planning.

• Learn more at http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/News/09-14-2011-newsa.

Scottsdale’s Advanced Water Treatment Plant expansion won an Award of Merit in the Project of the Year category from the WaterReuse Association. The project was recognized as a significant contributor to advancing the acceptance of water reuse through outstanding, quality projects.

Business Week asks the question: Which Is America’s Best City? And then ranks Scottsdale as #4, in the nation.

And here’s why:

A wealthy Phoenix suburb, Scottsdale has the second-best schools among cities we ranked, low unemployment, and a high number of park acres per person. More than half the population has a college degree. Like many other Arizona cities, the foreclosure rate is high, but Scottsdale bucks the trend with low unemployment.

The detail are here: Scottsdale, Arizona (Scroll to the end of the slide show and then step back to slide 48 of 51.)  With a bit more from AZ Central.com, Businessweek.com names Scottsdale 4th-best U.S. city

If you don’t already live in Scottsdale, but would like to look around, here  are some easy-to-use, and up-to-date home search tools:

• Search for Scottsdale homes, townhouses, and condos
• New homes search
• Search by neighborhood

Use the Internet. Drive neighborhoods.

Categorize your “Got to have’s” and “Want to have’s”, because really there is no such thing as the perfect house. Ask someone who has built a custom home, if there’s anything they’d change!

If you’d like to see how the various zip codes and areas of Scottsdale match to your preferences, try the home search tool I mentioned in the video, the Scottsdale Neighborhood Suggestor.