An inside look at Albuquerque’s most recent real estate market numbers including: housing inventory, median and average sales prices, and number of pending and closed transactions.
As a buyer or seller of a home, it is vital that you keep up with local real estate market numbers. In Albuquerque, the Greater Albuquerque Association of REALTORS (GAAR) releases local housing market numbers on a monthly basis. Numbers can be dense and overwhelming at times, so that is why I am here every month to help you understand them.
May 2020 Overview
Overall, the month of May in Albuquerque’s real estate market has shown signs of recovery from the global pandemic. Now, the market itself remained fairly hot throughout those months of quarantine, but this past month illustrated even more signs of increase in demand. Mortgage rates have been fairly low, on average below 3.3%. What does this mean for buyers? Well, depending on the home loan and your credit you may be qualified for a surprisingly low mortgage interest rate. If you are curious about your rate, you can always reach out to me and I can help set you up with a lender who can start the process for you.
In terms of buyers and sellers in Albuquerque, New Mexico we are seeing more buyers returning to the market in steady force compared to sellers. Buyers may be anxious to move after months of quarantine. I myself have been staring at the walls of my own home wondering if it is time to pack up and move. However, sellers have been showing signs of some reluctance. This may be wariness of the real estate market, the pandemic, or some combination of both. With a demand of buyers and a low supply of homes for sale we are seeing a record low inventory of houses. This means it is what real estate brokers like to call a “Sellers Market.” A well priced home in a low inventory neighborhood will likely not last long. I’ve seen first hand the lines in front of newly listed homes with buyers ready to tour and multiple offer situations.
If you are a seller and you are feeling hesitant, let’s look at the most recent housing market numbers and see what that would mean for you. If you are a buyer, read along too because these will give you a better idea of what to expect when making an offer.
Single-Family Detached Homes
New Listings, Pending and Closed Sales, and Days on Market
As we dive right into the numbers, let’s first take a look at single-family detached homes. This means homes that are not attached or affixed to anything. When it comes to New Listings, homes that hit the market in the month of May there were only 1,432 houses total. This is an 11% decrease from last year which saw 1,609 houses on the market. Now, this may be some of that seller hesitation I mentioned earlier.
However, when it came to pending sales for the month we saw 1,438 homes go under contract. That means for every new house that hit the market a house went into pending (and then some). This is a 23.8% increase from last year which had only 1,162 homes go into pending. Such an increase demonstrates buyer demand for homes. Now, for closed sales we saw a decrease of 28.5% with only 921 closed this month compared to the 1,288 from last year. This decrease likely stems from the COVID-19 slowdown we’ve seen from the past couple of months. Closings have been taking longer due to pandemic restrictions. For example, I had a recent closing that was delayed because of lender system slowdowns and staffing cuts. It is very likely given the pending numbers we have seen in May, we will see more closings for next month.
Let’s talk about days on market for the month of May. This is a one of the key numbers sellers love to know about. “How long will my house be sitting on the market?” The month of may saw an average of 23 days on market. So those average days are from the day the house went live online to the day it went into pending with a buyer. This is a 30.3% decrease from last year which saw an average of 33 days.
Median and Average Sales Price and Inventory
“Show me the money!” Or more accurate, “tell me how much homes are typically selling for in Albuquerque!” Regardless of your position in the real estate transaction, seller or buyer, you want to know about the money. Sellers want to know about how much their home is worth and how much they can net. Buyers want to know how much their home loan is going to be.
For the month of May we saw a median sales price increase of 0.9% with $230,000 for this year compared to $228,000 last year. The average sales price decreased slightly by 0.9% to $263,915 this year compared to $266,194 last year. It’s always disappointing to see even a slight decrease, however year to date we’ve seen home prices on average increase 4.6% to an average of $267,054. It’s always important to look at the bigger picture along with the month snapshot.
One of the biggest numbers I want to discuss is the inventory of homes for sale in the greater Albuquerque area. Inventory for the month of May is down 42.8% compared to last year. There were only 1,494 total detached homes on the market compared to 2,611 homes last year. This again goes to show that the supply of homes is down compared to the buyer demand we are seeing in other numbers (such as pending sales and days on market).
Single-family attached homes
New Listings, Pending and Closed Sales, and Days on Market
Now, let’s take a look at the numbers for attached homes. So homes that are affixed to another like condos or town-homes. Similar to detached homes we are seeing lower inventory, days on market, and higher median and average home prices. In terms of new listings, there were 143 new listings compared to 161 from last year. This is a decrease of 11.2%. For pending sales we saw an increase of 41.8% to 156 homes under contract compared to 110 from 2019. Much like detached homes we saw a decrease in closed sales. This again is likely due to the global pandemic which caused delays across the board in a number of industries including real estate. There were 110 closed sales in May of this year compared to 136 closings last year. So, a decrease of 19.1%. It seems like a dramatic decrease by percent, but in terms of the raw data it was a difference of 26.
Similar to detached homes, days on market for attached homes also experienced a dramatic decrease, 38.5% to be exact. In May 2019 the average days on market were 39 days. In May 2020 it was only 24 days. So from the day the listing goes live online to the day it went under contract was on average less than a month.
Median and Average Sales Price and Inventory
One pretty incredible thing we saw last month is increases in median and average sales prices. This is great news for sellers of an attached home. The median sales price increased 5.4% to $166,500 compared to the $158,000 we saw this time last year. For average sales prices we saw an increase of 4% to $170,665 from $164,114 in 2019. So, attached homes like condos and town-homes are seeing increases across the board for sales price compared to one year ago.
Alongside the increases in sales price, we witnessed a major drop in inventory. So, just like detached homes there was a downward spike in the amount of homes on the market. Last month, there were only 142 attached homes for sale compared to 266 homes last year. That is a 46.6% decrease.
Those are the greater Albuquerque area’s real estate market numbers for the month of May. If you are thinking of selling now is a great time to do so. A well priced and marketed home with the right REALTOR can get your home sold fast. Buyers, with record low inventory it is more important than ever to find a REALTOR that can work fast and aggressively with negotiations to get you into a home–especially with the potential for multiple offers.
Are you in the market to buy or sell today? Contact me now and let’s get started on writing the next chapter of your homeownership journey.
Elizabeth Benedict is an Associate Broker and REALTOR® at ERA Sellers and Buyers Real Estate in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She holds a Masters in Literature from the University of New Mexico. When she is not helping her community buy and sell houses she is usually writing.
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