Chris Liverett / Jim Smith Realty
February 2011
Pagosa Springs real estate has seen a bit of a reality check, especially for sellers, in Archuleta County in 2010. Brokers and home owners have had to get down to brass tacks about selling their homes. The Foreclosure Market, which made up about 36% of our home sales last year, has had an impact on pushing down values in most residential sectors.
For buyers, however, things haven’t looked this good in practically a decade! Many second home buyers and investors that have been holding on to their wallets since the beginning of the downturn, are having a ball shopping in our market. That is shown by a 21% increase in residential buying activity from 2009.
The overall value, or average sales price is continuing to decline, while the buying activity continues to increase. The foreclosure fillings are leveling off or declining. If these trends continue, it would indicate that the turnaround point is in sight. If we were to experience another round of foreclosures, we could see the trough extended for a little longer.
Give us a call if we can help shed any light on the current real estate market conditions. The selection is vast with a little over 1,500 buying options to date in our county.
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Eagle Peak Near Downtown Pagosa Springs
Cold morning snap shot by local photographer. This is the scene driving north out of downtown Pagosa Springs
Photo Courtesy of Jeff Laydon
Visual of Home Sales
It Helps to See it!
The charts below are a representation of the Archuleta County single family home Sale trends over the past 5 years. These numbers reflect a 13.9% increase in volume and a 21.3% increase in number of homes sold from 2009 to 2010. These are total year snapshots. If the trends continues, we may see 2011 as the bottom of the market in this downturn for residential sales price. As you can see, 2009 was the bottom of the market for number of homes sold.
By looking at the sales trend both from units sales above, and volume of sales below, the end of the year recap shows clear shift in sales pace toward the positive. Most local real estate practitioners are looking to 2011 with cautious optimism.
Local Real Estate Bucks National Trend
Pagosa Sun reports sales up 20%
By Jim McQuiggin
PagosaSUN.com staff
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Outperforming national trends, Archuleta County saw a slight recovery in real estate sales in 2010, according to a report released last week by the Pagosa Springs Area Association of Realtors (PSAAR).
Figures from the report, drawn from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) database indicated that all types of home sales increased about 20 percent in 2010 over the previous year, with 254 homes sold last year compared to 211 in 2009.
Also, in contrast to the national trend, average sale prices fell in the county, down 6 percent overall. In 2009, the average sale price was $283,091 compared with $267,107 in 2010.Nationally, the average sale price rose .4 percent, largely due to decreasing inventory of pre-owned homes available across the country
What has SOLD and where we may be heading
Could 2011 be the turnaround for Pagosa Springs?
No one wan can predict what happens from here, but we can look at indicators of market shift. Residential sales have increased by about 21% from 2009 to 2010. The next sharpest increase is in small vacant land lots. This sector is where confidence is reflected by second home and spec builders. While these numbers are very far off the mark from what they were in our building boom in 2005, they are still up by 39%. As the home inventory shrinks and the small land parcel sales increase, our construction and trade industry will be strengthened.
One more factor that we are keeping an eye on, that is not reflected in this graph, is the foreclosure market. By looking at the county foreclosure filings we have determined that at least right now, the foreclosures seem to be leveling off in number.This will soon help our inventory glut and provide a stable bottom for recovery.
Below is a chart that reflects total sales per year, for the past 5 years, categorized by residential and varying vacant land parcel sizes.
Sincerely,
Jim Smith Broker/Owner
Jim Smith Realty
