Albuquerque and Rio Rancho Real Estate Update. Spring 08

Here is a rundown of what we see happening in the Albuquerque Real Estate Market.

New home builders such as Pulte, Centex & DR Horton have been aggressive in moving inventory and have been offering large incentives to buyers. These new home sales are generally not listed in our Multiple Listing Service (MLS) database so these numbers aren't reflected very well in the statistics but from what we have seen, they were doing whatever they need to do to get through the slower time. It seems as though they were successful and sold their 'already built' inventory homes. So now… most of these new home builders are out of inventory and are quoting 7-9 months build time. It seems the only homes in inventory are ones that were started for a client who later cancelled. Recently we have seen some of these builders raise prices, reduce incentives and/or change standard features. Due to the nature of our available land, most of these new homes are located on the Westside, Southwest, and Rio Rancho.

Speaking of those Westside and Rio Rancho locations, the new home sales seem to have slowed the re-sale homes in these areas. Buyers are comparing a re-sale home with new and finding the prices similar with the new homes often winning out for the buyer. Re-sale homes need to be priced competitively and be in great condition. But…with the changes mentioned above in new home availability, incentives, and build times, the re-sale market should fare better in the coming months.

Also helping propel home sales are the favorable interest rates we continue to have (and look to have through the summer). We expect with the just released news from Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, more money will be flowing into the mortgage market and should bring mortgage rates down. On a side note… you may also want to look into re-financing your current mortgage in the next few months if rates continue to drop. The general rule of thumb is to re-finance if the rate will be 1% less than your current mortgage rate. We can recommend lenders if you'd like to talk with someone about re-financing your mortgage.

Here are some of the stats we've been following:

Residential Properties: Currently there are 5941 homes for sale in the metro area. There are 1174 pending closings and 1299 closed since January 1, 2008. The simple calculation of these numbers equates to a 6.5 month inventory of homes based on the selling pace since the first of the year. We know that the next few months are the busiest months of the year for home sales and based on the level of activity we're experiencing, we have no doubt that our market will be fairly strong.

Rio Rancho Vacant Land: There are 3506 active land listings with 28 pending sale and 65 closings so far this year and 615 in the past year. In 2006 there were 1750 land sales in Rio Rancho so the drop in sales is quite significant. We've also seen a steady decline in list and sales prices for Rio Rancho land. Rio Rancho continues to have many exciting development plans and we expect the pace of lot sales to pick up this summer. Rio Rancho just elected a new Mayor and it looks like he will do a good job moving Rio Rancho forward. There is a Land Auction for some large parcels of land in Rio Rancho and it should generate quite a bit of “buzz”. We went to a recent Sandoval County land auction and found that some lots went for good prices, while others sold for more than current value.

To wrap it up...our market for homes is quite strong, especially when compared with many parts of the Country. The number of homes on the market has come down and the pace of sales has increased. As always, we appreciate your business.

All the best, Tracy and Tego Venturi

Albuquerque NM Real Estate

Rio Rancho Real Estate Blog

Albuquerque Real Estate Blog