Homes Sales Increase During December, Defy Seasonal Pattern

Sales during December of single family detached homes around metro Albuquerque increased from November. Sales also increased during November from October. This basically doesn’t happen.
Typically during the winter months, the number of closed sales decline on a month-to-month basis. During 2009, sales declined from October to November and from November to December. Almost the sale pattern appeared in 2008, except that December sales were one unit above November.
My speculation is that maybe warm weather during November got more people out looking at homes which led to more closed sales during December. Also, interest rates are really, really low.
The negative momentum of the late fall 2009 continued into 2010 with a 36% drop from December to January 2010 (with 349 closed sales) and then a nine percent increase for February. In March, buyer began to respond to the first time home buyer tax credit, which artificially inflated sales through June.
The December 2010 result of 505 closed sales was an 8%, or 36-unit, increase over November. December sales were down 7% from December 2009.
There were 540 sales pending of single family detached homes during December. That was an 8% drop from November, but a 13% increase from December 2009. Pending sales during one month indicate the number of sales closed for the following month. The suggestion, therefore, is that the number of closed sales will drop in January.
Median and average sales prices for single family detached homes continued year-over-year increases from 2009. The December median price, $178,433, was up 1.4% from December 2009. There was a slight 0.34% increase for the average price, $217,416 during December, over December 2009.
The average price has increased six consecutive months from the same month of 2009, with the median price up for four months.
Homeowners listed 904 single family detached homes for sale during December. There were 4,794 homes listed for sale during the month.
The numbers are from the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors. The GAAR report covers sales from Rio Rancho to Belen and east to Moriarty.