By Ron Davis  –  Reporter, Albuquerque Business First

(December 10, 2021) Just two months after the Albuquerque metro's housing market started to even out slightly, a report from the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors on Friday showed prices are the highest they've ever been in the market.

The median sales price for a single-family detached home reached $310,000 in November. That's the highest price point throughout the 14 years that GAAR has tracked the data in its monthly reports. The market first crossed the $300,000 threshold in June. The $310,000-mark represents a 21.1% year-over-year increase from last November.

“In November, we typically began to see fewer new listings because of the holidays,” GAAR 2021 president Belinda Franco said in a statement. “With fewer homes on the market, demand has increased the median price to $310,000 — the highest level we’ve seen in our market — but we anticipate this is temporary.”

The available inventory for sale totaled just 722 homes for sale in November, representing a 48.4% year-over-year decrease. The market brought on 849 new listings throughout November, which is a 12.3% fall from the mark last November.

A common theme for homebuyers and sellers for the back half of the year has been how quickly homes come off the market. That stayed true in November as the average days on the market until a sale was 16 days.

With inventory shrinking, homebuilders are looking to meet the demand for new homes. Pulte Development New Mexico, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based national homebuilder Pulte Group, said it plans to build nearly 1,000 new home lots in 2022 across six communities, including five in the Albuquerque metro.

According to the St. Louis Federal Reserve, in the Albuquerque MSA, there were 157 single-family permits pulled in October, compared to 109 a year ago.

Among other benchmarks contained in GAAR's November report on single-family home sales in the Albuquerque residential market:

• Pending sales in the Albuquerque residential market increased 9.8% (1,024 sales) compared to the previous year. This figure often follows seasonal patterns.
• Closed sales decreased by 7.7% (1,056 sales) compared to the previous year. This figure often follows seasonal patterns.
• Percent of list price received increased less than 1% — to 100.3% — when compared to the previous year. The percent of list price is calculated by dividing a property’s sales price by its most recent list price, then taking the average for all properties sold in a given month. The figure does not take into account seller concessions.

Source: "Median sales price of Albuquerque homes reaches new high as inventory plummets"