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Thanks for visiting. On the right side of this home page, under STATS, are 6 newly updated and posted real estate statistical charts and spreadsheets for your review and discussion. The First Quarter Sales chart is updated, along with the Monthly Sales, plus the 4 Absorption Rate sheets. So there you have it. But wait, Alan! Aren’t you going to tell us anything about these numbers so we don’t have to actually look at the charts? Funny you should ask.
The good news is the same news included in several of my recent posts on the tardy but welcome recovery. We are in recovery, yes sir, our real estate market is recovering, but it is a slow and painful process yet. And this recovery means we are no longer scraping bottom and have climbed above those dire days when buyers were not in the mood and sellers were considering unsafe options.
But do please look at the figures to see with your own eyes, because the levels we are now seeing are still below the 2001 levels (11 years ago). So if you asked where we stand historically over the last 12 years, this year seems better than the last 4 or 5, but not as strong as the prior 7 or 8. So a recovery it is, nevertheless, and nobody will deny it.
Any of the 6 updated charts will show you approximately the same flow. That is: a climbing rate of sales thru the last decade until the drop came quickly about 2007, when we quickly fell to the bottom, and now the slow climb out.
What does the future hold? From my little perch along the side of road, I know we will continue to make improvements and build stronger sales figures gradually over the next several years. We will still be IN RECOVERY, so to speak, 5 years from now. Many factors can and will affect that last statement.
Our wonderfully low mortgage interest rates will probably start climbing just when we have some momentum and that will take a toll. The European mess, threats of conflict in the Middle East, plus the inevitable resource demand from Asia will all play out somehow. We can hope those issues do not forestall our recovery any more than they already have.
We hear complaints about the price of gasoline, even though we have had 35 years of warnings about reducing our consumption and proving out alternatives. We should blame only ourselves for the price of gas. We could have raised taxes at the pump decades ago. No, I do not argue for raising or lowering taxes today. I only argue for all of us paying the true cost of burning fossil fuels when we should be inventing cleaner and safer ways to pay for our homes, travel, shipping, manufacturing, new gadgets and whatever we do. Lets hear it for solar powered hot tubs!
Maybe some reader will take issue with the above. Yes, this is a blog and I welcome comments. Don’t be shy. If you think we have a right to gas at $2.50 a gallon because… well, why do you believe that anyway? Why would you demand our gasoline should be subsidized by our debt-ridden federal government?
Ten Thousand new wells drilled this month will not bring the gas prices down enough to satisfy those demands. Can it be that some still believe that gas burning internal combustion engines are the best way to move tons of steel and plastic (and 1 or 2 souls) around the countryside? What should we spend our money on these days? Help us with some constructive logic. Who has a plan?
Hey, Alan, lets stick to the subject! Real estate is lots of fun and no two days are alike. Tell us the good news! Well, every single day I talk with people who want to buy a home in Santa Fe. Some of them will follow through. For others it is still a dream. We must all keep our dreams in focus and work to make them come true. Visualization is a great way to start. I am visualizing the end of allergy season!
