Figures just released by the Greater Albuquerque Association of REALTORS® (GAAR) should make for very good reading for anyone currently selling their home, or contemplating doing so.
These stats contain good news in several key categories.
The median price of a detached home rose by 3.2% ($189,900) in comparison with July 2015, while the average detached price showed a year-on-year increase of 6.8% ($226,192).
On average, a detached home sells faster by a fifth of the time compared with the previous July. It now takes an average of 48 days to sell such a home.
Pending sales, a good indicator of August performance, showed an annual rise of 7.8% for detached homes. Indeed the levels of pending sales that we have seen in the market in recent months are the best for some years.
Unfortunately, inventory of available homes for sale continues to be a major problem in the area, with detached inventory showing a 16.3% fall in July, compared with the same period last year.
Although low inventory certainly favors sellers in terms of reduced competition and more robust asking prices (reflected in a very strong July performance in percentage of list price received), it does mean that there is a lack of choice for buyers. And it is probably very true to say that the very impressive sales figures we're seeing in the area would be even higher if buyers' options weren't so limited.
In our monthly look at the GAAR statistics, we've often focused on the number of new listings in recent months, as there has been a generally upward trend in recent months, although not enough to keep up with strong demand. Sadly July saw the worst levels of new listings since February. That said, if we take the year to date as a whole, at least there has been a tiny 1.9% improvement over the first seven months of 2015, but this isn't going to solve any shortage issues, of course.
In summary, sellers really shouldn't ignore the opportunities that low inventory presents right now. We have a very lively market just now and, as we indicated in detail in Tuesday's blog, it would be a big mistake to assume that buyer sentiment will always be as great as it is right now - at record levels nationally.
Why not call us today and discuss the implications of these latest stats related to your own situation.
Comments(1)