For the year to May 31, the total market is UP 33% in terms of the number of transactions; dollar volume is UP 25%.  Single-family homes are ahead of last year’s pace by 38% (units sold) and 31% (dollar volume).    

At last it appears that general confidence in the economy is combining with renewed interest in real estate to propel the market!

If you have been thinking of selling your home, now might be the time!  The inventory is low, and prices are rising.  Call us for a free consultation and market analysis.

TOTAL MARKET (all categories of property)

Month of May  (2017 vs. 2016)

# of Closed Sales        INCREASED from 29 to 46   (58.6%)

Dollar Sales                 INCREASED from $6,529,200 to $11,027,700  (68.9%)

Year to May 31  (5 months)

# of Closed Sales        INCREASED from 133  to 164    (23.3%)

Dollar Sales                 INCREASED from $31,732,500 to $39,779,900 (25.4%)

 

Click here for detailed year-to-date data.

Click here for a chart with data for the past 13 years.

 

SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES

May unit sales exceeded last May’s by 11 units:  26 vs. 15 (73.3%).  Dollar sales were up 65.7%, from $4,536,200 to $7,516,500.

Year-to-date unit sales are up 38.0% at 98 vs.71 houses sold.   Dollar sales are up 30.6%, from $22,963,200 to $29,997,800.

Average Prices – The median price year-to-date is down 11.0%, from $302,000 to $268,800.  The average(mean)is also down, from $323,400 to $306,100 (-5.3%).

Price Discounting – Through the first five months of the year, actual selling price has averaged 4.8% less than the last asking price when the property went under contract.  However, the average discount from original asking price is 8.9% so far this year.  For the full year 2016, it was 10.5%; in 2015 it was 13.9%; in 2014 it was 16.9%; in 2013, it was 18.4%.

Price Level – Prices of single-family homes fell 30%–40% from the market peak in 2007 to a bottom in late 2012–early 2013.  There was no discernible increase until last year, when prices started to move up some, but only for good-quality homes in the most preferred areas.  We are now beginning to see prices rise in most cases, although some are rises more than others.

Days On Market – The average days on the market for all the homes that have sold through May this year is 194 vs. 237 for the same period last year.   The average for the full year 2016 was 228 days; in 2015 it was 234 days; in 2014, it was 235 days.  Even during the boom years 2004-2006, the average time to sell a house in Taos was the same as today (about eight months) — much longer than in many U.S. markets.  However, we are seeing well-priced homes in preferred areas selling relatively quickly, due to the limited inventory.

Inventory and Sales by Price category:

						—–		——-	UNIT		SALES	——–
——– INVENTORY—–					2008			2016			2017
					full	year		full	year		YTD
	Current	Last .	Sept.		# of			# of			# of
	Month	Month	2008		Sales	%		Sales	%		Sales	%
Up to $200,000	57	54	190		47	25%		78	31%		33	34%
$200,001 – $300,000	71	67	109		46	25%		61	24%		21	22%
$300,001 – $400,000	56	54	69		35	19%		49	20%		19	19%
$400,001 – $500,000	34	35	39		17	9%		32	13%		13	13%
$500,001 – $650,000	34	32	35		20	11%		17	7%		6	6%
$650,001 – $800,000	29	24	27		7	4%		11	4%		5	5%
$800,001 – $1,000,000	15	16	36		8	4%		0	%		1	1 %
Over $1,000,000	16	14	13		5	3%		1	%		0	0%
TOTAL	312	296	518		185	100%		249	100%		98	100%

 

The number of pending sales increased from 13 to 16.

Inventory – The seasonal increase continued, with 312 homes on the market, a gain of 16 from a month ago.  The inventory consists of a very wide variety of price, style, location, and condition; so it is often difficult to find more than several homes to show a buyer that meet his or her criteria.  Note that in September of 2008, there were 518 homes listed for sale.  The limited inventory has been a damper on sales.

How purchases were financed	2015			2016			2017
Cash	103	41%		91	36%		35		36%
Conventional loan	118	47%		129	52%		58		59%
FHA loan	6	2%		11	4%		3		3%
VA loan	8	3%		10	4%		0		0%
Seller financing	12	5%		7	3%		1		1%
Other	6	2%		1	1%		1		1%
Total	253	100%		249	100%		98		100%

 

Foreclosure Sales – Through the first five months this year, there have been 10 foreclosure sales (10% of total houses sold).  The number of foreclosure sales, and their percentage of total sales of single-family homes, for the previous six years were:

2016	34	(14%)
2015	34	(13%)
2014	50	(22%)
2013	37	(16%)
2012	55	(28%)
2011	44	(29%)

 

There are 14 bank-owned houses listed for sale; of those, five are under contract (sale pending).  The number of foreclosures has diminished steadily over the past several years, both locally here in Taos and nationally.

CONDOMINIUMS

May condo sales were down compared to May of 2016 (2 vs. 5).  Dollar volume was down from $928,500 to $430,000 (-53.7%).  

Year-to-date unit sales are 36% below  last year’s pace (14 vs. 22).Dollar sales are down 36% at $3,228,900 this year vs. $5,061,100 last year.

The median price year-to-dateis up 18.2% ($220,500 vs. $186,500).  The average (mean) price is up slightly from $230,100 to $230,600.

As a comparison to peak market levels, in the full year 2006 there were 149 condos sold, with a median price of $251,000, and an average price of $259,300.

Price Discounting – Through five months this year, final sales price has averaged 6.7% less than last asking price when the property went under contract.  The average discount from original asking price is 9.5%.  For the full year 2016, the discount from original price averaged 11.8%.

Inventory – The number of condos listed for sale increased from 60 last month to 61 at the time of this report.  Last year’s highest inventory was 72 units for sale, which occurred in January.  In 2006, there were often over 200 condos on the market at any given time.

Inventory and Sales by Price Category

						—–		UNIT	SALES
	—–INVENTORY—–				2008	Year		2016	Year	2017	YTD
	Current	Last	Sept.		# of			# of		# of
	Month	Month	2008		Sales	%		Sales	%	Sales	%
Up to $150,000	5	3	40		10	20%		3	22%	3	21%
$150,001 – $250,000	25	28	50		15	30%		7	50%	7	50%
$250,001 – $350,000	10	9	51		14	28%		2	14%	2	14%
$350,001 – $500,000	16	16	56		7	14%		2	14%	2	14%
Over $500,000	5	4	29		4	8%		0	0%	0	0%
TOTAL	61	60	226		50	100%		67	100%	12	100%

 

There are 5 pending sales.

Days On Market – The average days on the market through five months this year is 210 compared to 235 for the same period last year.   The average for the full year 2016 was 259; in 2015 it was 328 days; in 2014, it was 237 days.

Cash Sales vs. Loans –  Of the 14 condos that have sold so far this year, 7 were cash sales (50%), and 7 (50%) were financed with a conventional loan.

MULTI-FAMILY

There were two sales in May 2017 vs. none in May 2016.   One was a 28-slot mobile home park that sold for $850,000; the other was a duplex near the center of town that sold for $325,000.

Year-to-date there have been three sales vs. none through May 2016.  Total dollar volume for the three sales was $1,580,000. 

Currently, there are five multi-family properties listed for sale; there is one pending sale.

Investor interest in multi-family should start to increase. The supply of long-term rentals is low because many property owners have switched to short-term (vacation) rentals. Long-term renters are having difficulty finding places to live. Rents are rising; therefore capitalization rates (net operating income as a percentage of sales price) should become more attractive to investors. On the other hand, if interest rates rise significantly, then investors will demand higher cap rates, which will reduce values unless rents increase commensurately.

May sales jumped from 8 last year to 15 this year (87.5%).  Dollar volume was up 45.5%, from $739,500 to $1,076,200.

Year-to-date unit sales are up 24.3% at 46 vs. 37.   Dollar sales are up 3.1%, from $2,943,200 to $3,033,200.  

The median price year-to-date is up 10%, from $50,000 vs. $55,000.  The average (mean) price is down, from $79,500 to $65,900 (-17.1%).

The highest sale price so far this year is $182,500; it was a 3-acre residential lot in the desirable foothills above the hospital. Of the 46 tracts that have sold, ten were over $100,000.  There have been no commercial tracts sold.

Price Discounting – For the 46 tracts that have sold year-to-date, the final sales price averaged 15.0% from last asking price; the discount from original asking price was 34.3%; however, this was skewed by two sales: a 103-acre tract  with original ask of $531,000, sold price of $162,500; and a 10-acre tract originally listed at $325,000 that sold for $152,000.   For the full year 2016, the price discount from last asking price was 13.4%.  The discount from original asking price was 22.4%.

The average days on market for the 46 tracts that have sold year-to-date was 677 vs. 551 for the same period last year.  In the full year 2016, days on market averaged 464; in 2015 it was 605 days; in 2014 it was 390; in 2013 it was 465.

Inventory and Sales by Price Category

				——–	——–	UNIT  SALES				——
—–INVENTORY—–				2015			2016		2017  Y-T-D
	Current Month	Last Month		#	%		#	%	#	%
Up to $50,000	148	154		32	37%		42	47%	21	46%
$50,000 – $100,000	184	174		28	32%		31	34%	15	33%
$100,001 -$150,000	92	96		9	10%		8	9%	4	9%
$150,001-$200,000	41	45		8	9%		5	6%	6	13%
$200,001– $250,000	27	19		5	6%		0	0%	0	0%
$250,001 – $300,000	10	11		3	3%		2	2%	0	0%
Over $300,000	57	54		2	2%		2	2%	0	0%
TOTAL	559	553		87	100%		90	100%	46	100%

 

There are 16 pending sales, up from 13 last month.

The inventory is 559 tracts listed for sale, up from 533 last month.

The number of land sales is still very low compared to the early 2000’s.  In the full year 2005, there were 339 closed land sales for a total value of $39 million.  In 2006, 296 tracts sold for a total of $42.7 million.

COMMERCIAL

There was one commercial sale in May, the same as in May 2016.  The sale was the former Appleby’s Restaurant on the main thoroughfare. The sale price was $830,000.

Through the first five months of 2017, there have been three sales, totaling $1,940,000 compared to three for the same period in 2016 that totaled $765,000.

Full-year 2016 had 7 commercial sales at a total value of $2.9 million.  In 2015, there were 17 sales, totaling $8.1 million.  In 2014, there were just three sales, totaling  $2.34 million.

Currently, there are 39 commercial properties listed for sale.  Of these, three are under contract.  These include an RV park with an asking price of $350,000 which has been under contract for a long time, and a B & B near Taos center priced at $875,000.

The commercial market is still weak, with a lot of vacancies in retail stores and professional office space.  Unlike residential rents, commercial rents are not rising.  Nevertheless, we expect an increase in commercial property sales over the next several years as the economy slowly recovers, and as the impact of the major investments at Taos Ski Valley begins to be felt throughout the wider Taos market.