While awaiting the official February real estate residential market report for my area, the Greater Albuquerque area of New Mexico, I thought to share my own informal analysis and prediction.
March 3rd. 2007, the Southwest Multiple Listing Service that serves the Greater Albuquerque, New Mexico area increased its offerings with 209 newly listed residential properties plus 22 that were previously taken off the market and back on, to make a total of 231 properties listed on that particular day.
At the same time, 130 properties were put in pending (taken off the market because someone contracted to buy them). Another 90 properties are listed as sold.
If we assume that all the pendings will close, we may conclude that a total of 223 properties went off the market. In that case, on this particular day, 8 more properties went off the market than entered - a good daily report, considering that an increasing inventory has been contributing to a slower market.
Looking at the numbers for residential activity for all of February, we listed 1,568 properties. Those in pending plus those sold add up to 430. The overall ratio for the month suggests supply continues to be higher than demand. That being the case, we may expect the market to continue to be slow, with properties remaining longer on the market.
My observations are that continued relatively low interest rates (the national average of the 30-year conventional mortgage is well below 7 percent) along with signs of spring are encouraging greater buying activity in the Greater Albuquerque area.
In the meantime, the official December 2006 and January 2007 reports are comparatively positive, despite decreased sales. http://members.abqrealtors.com/hs/stats-2007_january-report.pdf . Real Estate IS local. Often national averages do not reflect what is happening in our local markets and we must analyze what is happening in our region and base our findings on our observations.
As long as people have jobs, our economy continues to thrive, and we strive to preserve the quality of life people find attractive, I expect New Mexico real estate to thrive. If we need another positive indicator, here is one: Read the following post and the accompanying comments. http://activerain.com/blogsview/50279/New-Condos-Coming-to
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Eloise Gift, bilingual, Albuquerque, New Mexico real estate broker helps people realize their real estate dreams - "to go from one little piece of Holy Ground to the next.
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Thanks for sharing the market report. In my area inventory is also high, it is my hope that sellers will make the necessary adjustment to move some of these properties, and if there are properties on the market just to test the waters hopefully these will be withdrawn.
Jennifer,
I think there may be some homes on the market essentially testing the market and by doing so inflate the inventory. These owners don't have to sell and are hoping for last year's continuing double-digit inflation. Unfortunately, I think some are waking up slowly to present-day reality and are not realizing that buyers have many choices and if the property is not priced to sell, it will stay on the market. Sellers are still getting full price for properties that are priced right.
The challenge for us is to convince serious sellers of the reality.