Compared to other major cities, not so expensive. And when I was there in March, every other house/townhouse was in foreclosure. Values there have gone down about 50%. Not sure if you are looking to rent or buy, but there are some nice condos near the airport. And you are close enough to the Carefree/ Cave Creek area, where it's rural, beautiful, and lots of country roads and hills for riding. Scottsdale is crowded and there's a traffic light every square mile. The example i can give is that the house I sold in 1990 (in south Tempe) for 132,000 was valued at about 600,000 in 2008. It's now worth about 300,000.