The Greater Albuquerque Association of REALTORS® (GAAR) has just released its review of the second quarter of 2016.
Quarterly reports are always interesting to study, as they tend to point to more sustainable trends than month-to-month statistics.
Compared to the second quarter of 2015, single-family detached home sales increased by 9.19% and the average sale price in this category is also making very good progress with a 4.26% year on year rise.
In real price terms, that translates to an average sale price of $228,003, which is quite a leap from the 2016 first quarter figure of $216,222 - a great demonstration of the market's fine state of overall health.
To give an even better perspective, consider that the average sale price in the second quarter of 2013 was $207,491.
In last Friday's blog we examined reasons why sellers shouldn't delay listing their homes in the hope of returns improving even more in future. Those arguments still very much apply, even in spite of these latest very encouraging figures.
It should be remembered that what we're seeing right now is an almost perfect confluence of favorable circumstances, led by the recent falls in mortgage rates following the chaos in global markets after the UK Brexit decision. Although rates have risen very slightly in the past week or so, they are still ultra-low and we can therefore hope to see the continuance of the very positive sales price trend in this latest quarterly report in the immediate future.
However, even though the number of closed sales in the area was up by 9.19% in the last quarter, we also received confirmation that the slight ray of hope on rising inventory in the first quarter of this year has proven to be a false dawn.
Back in April, we reflected on the small, but we felt significant, 2.69% increase in the number of new listings in our market, compared with the same period in 2015.
These latest stats, however, show that the increasing demand we're seeing is simply not being matched by improved supply and there was a quite dramatic 25.54% year-on-year fall in new listings last quarter. Detached listings, for example, were down to 3,630 from the 2015 second quarter figure of 4,875.
This yet again highlights the fantastic opportunities for sellers right now. Indeed, given the current trends it's essential for the market that we do start to see more homes being listed. Such low inventory begs the question if sales would have been even higher if buyers had more choice? How many are waiting for the elusive home that's a perfect fit for them? Could that home be yours?
Low inventory is yet another very robust argument for sellers to not play a waiting game. When more inventory eventually arrives on the market, prices could be under more pressure, so why wait when right now there's still reduced competition and a good chance of receiving multiple offers above asking price.
Why not call us today for a more detailed discussion on why we think this could be one of the best moments to sell in many, many years.
The full GAAR report can be accessed by clicking here.
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