When you think about the Los Alamos County housing market right now, terms like “seller’s market”, “bidding”, and multiple offers” often come to mind. But how do these concepts translate to actual data about home sales in our town? Let’s take a look at a couple of statistics that might provide a better picture.

Sales in a Month

The first thing you have to keep in mind when you’re looking at real estate sales, is that there are natural peaks and valleys in the market that correspond to seasonal factors like holidays or the beginning and end of the school year. Weather can also play a big part in determining the number of homes sold in a month. Nobody wants to move in or out if there are back to back snowstorms such as the ones we experienced several winters ago.

Here’s the surprising thing about the number of homes sold each month in the last few years. 2018 was a good year. The monthly average of homes sold in 2018 was 31.5. In August there were 41 home sales. That’s quite a big bump. And yet we saw nearly as many homes sell in December of 2019. That’s right, there were 38 home sales in December. Almost as many as there were in August. And December is typically the beginning of the seasonal slowdown.

Of course, you could suggest that this was just part of a continuous trend throughout last few years. Except that’s not necessarily true. The average number of homes sold per month in 2019 was 27.5. In 2020, that number dropped to 26.8. That might seem like a downward trend until you remember that we were selling 26.8 homes per month during a period when our kids weren’t allowed to attend school, we were all trapped in our homes “working”. And a good number of new home owners shopped online for homes they never physically visited until the closing date. Anyone else feel like 26.8 is spectacular given the circumstances? I certainly do!

It doesn’t look as though it’s slowing down either. If anything, the market is gaining momentum. There were 26 home sales just last month and I can’t wait to see what February brings!

Home Prices

This is a sticky topic no matter what market you’re talking about. Whether you’re looking at urban, suburban, or even acreage, price point is on the minds of both buyers and sellers. Here in Los Alamos, it’s all too easy to get caught up in this mindset that homes in our county are so much more expensive than homes in other places.

From the data shown above, you can see that most of the homes sold in 2020 were in the $400-$499K range. But only by three percent more than the $300-$399K range. And the price point below that, the $200-$299K range, is only another one percent drop. Taking into account the number of homes sold in 2020, you’re talking a difference of five or six homes. And while it really is incredible that there were 89 homes that sold for $500K and above in 2020, that also means there were 233 homes that sold for less than $500K.

Let’s also not forget that this isn’t happening only in Los Alamos. According to popular real estate experts, Norada Real Estate Investments, the median listing prices across the country grew 14.4% throughout 2020. That’s a huge amount of growth. In fact, Narada goes on to discuss the ways in which the real estate market, record low mortgage interest rates, and the demand for homes is actually helping to bolster the US Economy. Yes. You’re paying a higher listing price, but the lower interest on your mortgage still means you get more for your money whether you’re in Los Alamos or anywhere else in the United States. And here, you get the benefit of living in one of the safest, healthiest, and most beautiful places in the country. If you have to social distance, having a National Forest on hand is certainly a perk.

So the next time you want to ponder the state of our local real estate market, remind yourself of this important point. As always, Los Alamos isn’t all by itself in how the market is performing or what the trends are. However, we are by far and away doing it better and probably more efficiently than anyone else. And if you’re ready to talk about how YOU fit into our local real estate market, give me a call!