Here's to new Albuquerque City Councillor Roxanna Meyers for quickly understanding that the proposed roundabout in Albuquerque's North Valley was a bad idea. Meyers told City Hall to stop planning for a $1.5 million roundabout at Rio Grande and Candelaria NW, the Albuquerque Journal reported today.
While I generally oppose roundabouts, considering them confusing and therefore dangerous, I hadn't been by Rio Grande and Candelaria NW for months until a few days ago. The intersection is a regular intersection with lights. Big deal. Sure the streets are wide, but arterials tend to be wide. The anti-mobility totalitarians want us all on bikes or driving autos a maximum of 18 MPH, the speed limit on so-called bike corridors such as Silver SE and Mountain Road near Old Town.
City Hall will send $1 million back to the feds, no doubt to be wasted elsewhere, and put $500,000 bad into the city's budget, perhaps to be usefully used.
Meanwhile, congratulations to Councillor Meyers.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Business Weekly Changes Name
The Albuquerque Business Weekly is now Albuquerque Business First. The news came today in the form of a subscription "introductory offer discount." I had never heard of Business First and wondered (hoped) that Biz Weekly had a competitor. Then I noticed that the Biz First address was the same as Biz Weekly.
The website is the same. There is no mention that Biz First was formerly Biz Weekly. The mailer came from Charlotte, NC.
The website is the same. There is no mention that Biz First was formerly Biz Weekly. The mailer came from Charlotte, NC.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Homes Sales Up in January, Prices Down
Yesterday two reports about metro Albuquerque real estate said life is mostly good and getting better.
The Albuquerque Journal reviewed 2012 home sales and said the inventory of homes offered for sale is down, sales are up on a monthly and a year-over-year basis and prices are up. The housing market has turned a corner from the bubble, the Journal report said.
A few details are worth mention. The Journal’s report probably was about all single family homes, both detached and attached (townhouses and condominiums), but this wasn’t clear. While 8,387 attached and detached total sales during 2012 was the highest since 2007, the metro population has grown. My guess is that sales remain down on a per capita basis from pre-bubble times. Likewise, while the 1.7% average price increase during 2012 is god news, it is behind the 2.1% increase in the main CPI, called the consumer price index for all urban consumers. In other words, if that 2.1% CPI increase works for Albuquerque, which it may or may not, the real value of homes dropped in 2012.
Niggling aside, 2006 was the last time one could say positive real estate things about Albuquerque. A nice change.
Except for dropping prices, the good news continued in January, according to the monthly sales report from the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors.
Both the median and average prices for single family detached homes dropped from December 2012 and from January 2012. The median price was $158,000 in January. The average was $186,051.
It has been at least four years since prices were this low. My files don’t go beyond 2009.
Why? No idea. Short sales? Could be. My only observation is that the number of highest-end sales, those over $500,000, dropped by more than half from December to January. The next lowest prices were in March 2012 when the average was $189,676 and the median was $159,000.
The 480 sales closed during January were down from December as is seasonally normal, but up 16.8% from January 2012. The number of sales pending during January, 969, jumped 35% from December and was up “only” 16% from a year earlier. Around 70% of sales pending during one month tend to turn into closed sales during the next month. That suggests February sales might be more than 600, allowing for the short month. We’ll see.
The homes sold during January took an average of 74 days to sell, the longest sales period since 76 days in June 2012.
Sales of townhouses and condominiums mirrored the detached home performance with prices down and closed and pending sales down from December and up from January 2012.
The Albuquerque Journal reviewed 2012 home sales and said the inventory of homes offered for sale is down, sales are up on a monthly and a year-over-year basis and prices are up. The housing market has turned a corner from the bubble, the Journal report said.
A few details are worth mention. The Journal’s report probably was about all single family homes, both detached and attached (townhouses and condominiums), but this wasn’t clear. While 8,387 attached and detached total sales during 2012 was the highest since 2007, the metro population has grown. My guess is that sales remain down on a per capita basis from pre-bubble times. Likewise, while the 1.7% average price increase during 2012 is god news, it is behind the 2.1% increase in the main CPI, called the consumer price index for all urban consumers. In other words, if that 2.1% CPI increase works for Albuquerque, which it may or may not, the real value of homes dropped in 2012.
Niggling aside, 2006 was the last time one could say positive real estate things about Albuquerque. A nice change.
Except for dropping prices, the good news continued in January, according to the monthly sales report from the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors.
Both the median and average prices for single family detached homes dropped from December 2012 and from January 2012. The median price was $158,000 in January. The average was $186,051.
It has been at least four years since prices were this low. My files don’t go beyond 2009.
Why? No idea. Short sales? Could be. My only observation is that the number of highest-end sales, those over $500,000, dropped by more than half from December to January. The next lowest prices were in March 2012 when the average was $189,676 and the median was $159,000.
The 480 sales closed during January were down from December as is seasonally normal, but up 16.8% from January 2012. The number of sales pending during January, 969, jumped 35% from December and was up “only” 16% from a year earlier. Around 70% of sales pending during one month tend to turn into closed sales during the next month. That suggests February sales might be more than 600, allowing for the short month. We’ll see.
The homes sold during January took an average of 74 days to sell, the longest sales period since 76 days in June 2012.
Sales of townhouses and condominiums mirrored the detached home performance with prices down and closed and pending sales down from December and up from January 2012.
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