• Jan 12, 2018 Average Las Cruces-area home value jumped 8.1 percent in 2017
    Gary Sandler
    No Comments | 0 likes | 2,070 Viewers

    Published 12 January 2018

    LAS CRUCES – A shortage of inventory, coupled with an influx of buyers, combined to push the 2017 average Las Cruces-area sales price of new and existing homes, townhomes and condominiums to $192,865, according to a Jan. 6 report from the Las Cruces Association of Realtors. The year’s average price was $14,487, or 8.1 percent, higher than the $178,368 average price posted in 2016.

    The report also revealed that local Realtors sold 1,876 new and existing homes, townhomes and condominiums during 2017; an improvement of 185 units, or 10.9 percent, over the 1,691 sales booked in 2016.

    Free-standing, single-family homes led the pack in 2017 with 1,749 sales at an average sales price of $198,681. New homes accounted for 230 of the closings and posted an average selling price of $213,318, while existing-home sales produced the remaining 1,519 transfers at an average price of $196,465.

    Ninety-six buyers purchased townhomes in 2017, paying an average price of $122,391 for their units. Another 41 buyers closed on condominiums carrying an average price of $108,502.

    Not all areas appreciated at the same rate. Take Picacho Hills, for example. Sales were up by 24 units, or 58.5 percent in 2017 (65 units versus 41 units), while at the same time the average price increased by $15,750, or 4.8 percent ($322,864 versus $307,114).

    The 297 sales booked in the Sonoma Ranch area in 2017 represented a slight improvement over the 294 sales reported a year earlier. However, Sonoma’s average price of $240,579 was $22,472, or 10.3 percent, higher than the $218,107 average price reported in 2016.

    The last time our area’s average price was at or near today’s level was in 2009, as prices steadily dropped from our 2007 record peak of $218,016. Prices continued declining until 2012 when they bottomed out at $171,385.

    Local sales production has been on a similar track. After beginning its decline from the 2,303 sales-unit record set in in 2006, the number of sales passed through the 1,877-unit level in 2007 on its way to our modern day low of 1,019 closed units in 2011. Let’s hope our current upward trend continues.

    See you at closing!

    Gary Sandler is a full-time Realtor and president of Gary Sandler Inc., Realtors in Las Cruces. He can be reached at 575-642-2292 or Gary@GarySandler.com.

    About author

    • About Author

      Gary Sandler