The 330-unit complex, located at 9259 E. Raintree Dr., has brought nearly $63,000 per unit. International Properties Group, a publicly traded real estate investment company based in Calgary, Canada, is the seller of the 93% occupied holding, which had been built in 1987.

"It's one of the nicer properties built for that era," Brad Goff, an apartment broker in the Phoenix office of Insignia/ESG who represented the seller in the transaction, tells GlobeSt.com. "It's one of the best locations."

The project is just south of Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard and east of the Loop 101 freeway, an intersection that many feel is the new center point of Scottsdale. The apartment complex's value had increased when Loop 101 opened more than two years ago and has been boosted even higher with the recent opening of the loop's on-off ramp at Raintree Drive, Goff says.

"It's a better location that it was a year ago," says Goff. "The long-term viability is there for that project."

The ongoing freeway project also has increased the number of office and industrial projects in the area, which in turn has created more demand for apartments. The Scottsdale Airpark, which is less than a mile to the west of the Scottsdale Foothills Apartments, has 30,000 jobs and is expected to add another 20,000 over the next decade. A 100,000-sf office project is under construction immediately across Raintree Drive from the Scottsdale Foothills Apartments.

Investors are perhaps more attracted to apartment projects in the Valley because they are unsure about what might happen in the other sectors, Goff says. "We are Valleywide between 6% and 7% and rents are increasing 2% to 3% annually," he says. "It's viewed as a pretty stable, safe investment relative to the other classes." The vacancy rate in the north Scottsdale and Fountain Hills area is approximately 4.5%.