Number of Home Sales Drop; Prices Continue to Soar

A very happy spring to you. It’s the middle of April, and in perfect fashion, it was unseasonably warm, then it snowed, and now it’s windy, so tomorrow should be just perfect. The crazy spring weather is kind of like the real estate market has been lately; hot, then cold, and now getting primed for the frenzy that will be this summer. Let’s get into it. The first quarter of 2022 saw sales numbers dip lower than in past years with prices continuing their march upward. The number of single-family homes sold in the county in Q1 was 30% lower than in the same period of 2021. But when compared to the first quarter of 2020, which was right before the pandemic, sold units are only down by about 18%. We are really starting to get a sense of what the effects of the pandemic has been on housing statistics, and we’ll be able to draw some pretty large assumptions once we get through the second quarter of this year. As you see here, there was a slight lull in the market right before all hell broke loose in May of 2020. You’ll see here that more homes sold than ever before in October 2020, when inventory was at its peak as well. Then as inventory dwindled, demand kept pace, wiping out all of the options people once had prior to mid-2020. Year over year, we saw 30% less homes sold in the first quarter of this year with a 24% and 16% increase in the average and median sales prices respectively. In March alone, the sales price of a home in La Plata County averaged out at almost 1.1 million when analyzing the 48 single-family homes that sold. And sellers were fetching an average of 101.4% of their listing price in March, proving that the seller’s market has not ceased to exist. I’d like to end this month’s segment with a bit of good news. The residents of the Westside Mobile Home Park here in Durango had their offer accepted and they’ll become owners by way of co-ops so long as the deal closes. This is by way of a new provision in the Mobile Home Park Act which went into effect in June of last year. This gives residents of mobile home parks the opportunity to purchase the property where they’ve parked their trailers and start calling their own shots as a cooperative. That’s a huge win for home ownership, and the brokers at Alpenglow Properties care deeply about that. Regardless of your political views, race, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender, familial status, or even if you love cats, we emphatically believe that home ownership is one of the greatest paths to financial freedom. And we want you to succeed. We are passionate about your goals being achieved and with times as tough as they are for buyers right now, it’s never been more important to have a partner in your corner as your realtor. Your success is our number one priority and we have hope that you call us when you need us. Keep an eye on those interest rates. Be well and see you next month.

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