At the risk of repeating myself

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Go ahead, Alan. Take a chance and tell us again how Santa Fe does not always follow in lockstep with the rest of the United States. You may have told us this already, and of course we have known that ourselves for many years. We live here now or possibly we observe the trends and changes in the City Different from a distance. But you go right ahead and tell us again.

By the way, I will never say “I told you so”. Best that we all just keep the facts in front of us and not get swayed by emotions.

Without the intent of alienating anyone, Santa Fe residential real estate has had its own pulse and heard its own drumbeat for all of the 30 plus years I have lived here and done business here. The exception to that observation is when we were forced into a real estate meltdown starting in the 2nd half of 2006 and free-falling until 2009. And we are still in recovery.

The “forced” part is that the international economic crisis was so large and so deeply felt that little old Santa Fe could not escape the negative effects of the situation. And now we strive to become unique and independent again, to really be Different, while carrying the weight of massive mark downs of homeowner’s net worth and lenders portfolios.

Today there are many major metropolitan areas where people are complaining about a shortage of homes for sale. They do not have enough inventory to satisfy the buyer’s demands and needs. These areas are getting quite a bit of press coverage, to the extent that some may believe that ALL parts of the country are in the same condition. Not so fast, my friend.

The inventory level of Santa Fe residential real estate for sale as of the first of this month told the tale of plenty of homes available for buyers to view and select from. In the widest perspective, including all homes for sale in Santa Fe city and county in all price ranges, we have about a ONE YEAR SUPPLY. It is only in the lowest one-third (0 to 500K) of the price points I report on that the absorption rate is below 12 months.

And even in that most active price range, zero to a half million, which includes most of our inventory and fills up most of our sales results (about 75%), the inventory levels are still above 9 months when measured as amount of supply given current demand.

All of this is without any real numbers of newly built homes being added to the list of product for sale. But that is the subject of another post.

Stay close to the ground and ask your real estate professional what to do about your own real estate needs. They have access to the same information I do and can confirm we are still in a buyers market and now is probably not the time to raise prices.

Posted in Home Values, Posts & Updates, Santa Fe area real estate, Statistical Data - Santa Fe real estate market and tagged , , , , .

The writer is a 68 year-old young man engaged as an active REALTOR (associate broker) with Keller Williams, in real estate sales and management in the Santa Fe NM market area. My career has been in and around the real estate industry for more than 35 years, ranging from mortgage lending (interim, commercial, residential); residential property management and leasing; shopping center development and leasing; real estate sales; sales training; title insurance as an executive and an escrow officer; various management positions; consulting and other related activities. That plus a bunch of banking experience including our family-owned Bank of Santa Fe in the 1980s. Where has the time gone?
My background means you have my working knowledge of the entire transaction process at your disposal. That comes with honesty and no bullshit.