Friday, June 21, 2013

Job Situation Continues Improvement

New Mexico’s job situation continues to improve. A little.
Employment, seasonally adjusted, grew a few hundred from April.
From May 2012, however, May 2013 employment showed 10,100 more jobs for a total of 943,300. The increase was 1.16%.
The seasonally unadjusted figures weren’t as pretty, so we’ll just wallow in the glorious 1+%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the figures today.
Some sector figures, seasonally adjusted, show:
Construction: +2,900 to 43,600.
Manufacturing: -1,300 to 28,500.
Professional and business services: +100 to 98,100.
Finance: +1,500 to 34,200.
Education and health services: +1,800 to 123,500.
Leisure and hospitality: +2,800 to 88,500.
Government: -1,900 to 192,400.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Abq Homes Sales Pop During May

Home sales around metro Albuquerque popped in May with a 23.9% increase from April and 22.5% growth from May 2012.
Prices, both median and average, increased from April but changed little—$302 in the case of the average—from May 2012.
The sale of 903 single family detached homes closed during May. That was up 174 units (23.9%) from April and a 166-unit jump from May 2012. A quick look at the history at gaar.com indicates the most recent monthly sales of more than 900 were in 2007. Note that it was a “quick look.” If you want to be sure, look at gaar.com. GAAR is the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors, which released the May sales report today. Look for these figures in the Albuquerque Journal in a couple of weeks.
The median price, $174,900, was just $100 short of the $175,000 median seen in March. The highest recent median price was $178,000, reached in July 2011.
The May average price, $211,505, broke $210,000 for the first time in 2013. The May average was the highest average since February 2011.
The single family detached homes with sales closed during May jumped off the shelf, so to speak, with a 65 day average sales period, the shortest of the year and down five days from April and 21 days faster than during May 2012.
May saw pending sales of 1,250 homes, up 25.4% from a year ago, but down 30 from April. Of those 1,280 sales pending during April, 71% turned into closed sales during May. That was a five point increase from the 66% of the March pending sales that closed during April.