• Gary Sandler
    No Comments | 0 likes | 963 Viewers

    Published 26 January 2020

    It was in 2007 that the combined median sales price for new and existing free-standing, single-family Las Cruces-area homes reached its all-time high of $191,145. Then came the mortgage meltdown and recession from which some real estate markets have yet to recover. It took more than a decade, until 2019 to be exact, for single-family home prices in Las Cruces to return to where they were 12-years earlier, according to a Jan. 18 report from the Las Cruces Association of Realtors.

    During the five-year period between 2007 and 2012, the single-family home median sales price steadily declined, falling by $41,245, or 21.6 percent, to a modern-day low of $149,500. From that point, it took seven years of snail-paced increases to reach today’s post-recession high of $192,500.

    During the early years of the recession, a lack of buyers caused many sellers to postpone the sale of their homes. In the case of sellers who lost their jobs or were compelled to relocate but were unable to sell because they were “upside-down” (meaning they owed more on their homes than they were worth), foreclosures began to rise. From a record-breaking peak of 2,145 homes, townhomes and condominiums listed for sale through the Las Cruces Multiple Listing Service in 2006, our inventory began to shrink. Today, our local supply consists of just 477 homes, townhomes and condominiums for sale, of which only 458 are of the free-standing, single-family variety.

    The median sales price for Las Cruces-area condominiums also peaked in 2006, reaching an all-time high of $137,200. Unlike the single-family home prices that bottomed out in 2012, it took until 2017 for condominium prices to fall to their post-recession low of $99,500. After rising to $117,500 in 2018, values did an about-face and declined to 2019’s median price of $112,000. As of this writing, just eight condominiums are listed for sale in our area.

    Following suit, Las Cruces-area townhome prices reached their pre-recession high of $137,500 in 2006. It wasn’t until 2016 that the median sales price reached its low point of $106,889. Prices have steadily increased since that time, rising to a post-recession high of $132,000 in 2019. Buyers currently have a small inventory of just nine townhomes to choose from.

    Will prices continue to rise in 2020? An improving economy and mortgage interest rates hovering just below four percent should result in additional buyers entering the marketplace as the spring and summer selling seasons approach. If the number of new buyers exceeds the number of new listings that are typically added to the inventory in the spring, the shortage of available homes will most likely push prices higher.

    See you at closing.

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

    About author

    • About Author

      Gary Sandler