Colder weather wasn’t enough to slow down Albuquerque’s hot housing market, as home prices continued to increase in October.
According to the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors’ monthly home price report, the median sale price for a detached single-family house in metro Albuquerque stood at $260,000 in October.
The median home price represents a 1.6% increase over September, and a 13.6% increase from last October, suggesting that Albuquerque’s robust home price growth isn’t likely to end even with summer — traditionally the busiest time for buyers and sellers — in the rearview mirror.
“We’re certainly not seeing the typical cycles of buying and selling,” said GAAR board president Sherry Fowler. “It’s just been a hot market, and it continues to stay that way.”
Driven by low interest rates and limited inventory, Albuquerque has seen strong home price growth for nearly the entire year. The number of closed sales increased 18.7% year-over-year in October, while pending sales increased 36.4%, according to the report. During the same period, the number of single-family homes on the market declined from 2,857 last October to just 1,300 a year later, according to the report.
Fowler said many of the buyers she’s working with are existing Albuquerque homeowners who have been motivated to move into a larger house during the pandemic. Among these buyers, home offices are in high demand.
“Maybe during the pandemic they got tired of working out in the living room,” Fowler said.
Fowler added that Albuquerque has remained attractive to buyers moving from larger markets as well, due to its sunshine and relatively spread-out population. She noted that single-level floor plans have been popular, which suggests that some of the buyers may be retirees.
“A lot of people are looking for a lifestyle change,” Fowler said.
Barring a significant uptick in interest rates or further economic disruption, Fowler said she expects the home price growth to continue at least until more new home construction begins around metro Albuquerque.
“I don’t know what it would take to significantly change things,” Fowler said.
