2006 Q4 Housing Appeciation Rates - New Mexico: +11.2%

The map below may be somewhat difficult to see, but all the states in RED appreciated 10% or more in the 4th quarter of 2006. Good news for New Mexico!

www.RealEstateinSantaFeNM.com

Santa Fe Market Watch: Home Prices to Increase in Santa Fe

Click Here for the full article.


RealEstateinSantaFeNM.com

"New Mexico may have the longest lasting booming real estate market in the nation,"

Yet another great reason to move to New Mexico.

From the New Mexico Business Weekly:

No. 1 nationally: ABQ homes keep appreciating

Good news for New Mexico Homeowners! "New Mexico may have the longest lasting booming real estate market in the nation," and "New Mexico is one of the Sunbelt states that is still seeing unprecedented growth. People want to move to warmer climates and they doing it in droves."

Read the full article here.

RealEstateinSantaFeNM.com

Real Estate in Santa Fe, NM

Springtime in Santa Fe and Prices Remain Strong!

Spring was here...and now it's gone! We had a few weeks of beautiful sunny weather in the 70's. There is no sight more beautiful than seeing the trees and flowers slowly bloom in the high desert. Bushes that look like dead sticks suddenly have green leaves popping out. That was then. This is now. Winter has returned to the land of enchantment! It was much appreciated last weekend, since Sunday was the last day of ski season. The weather cooperated by dropping another 4 inches of powder on top of a substantial base. Spring came back on Tuesday and Wednesday, and today it's cold, cloudy and wintery with more snow on the way! Such is life in the mountains - the weather can be very unpredictable.

The real estate market here continues to be very strong. Santa Fe did not suffer the huge downturn that other areas experienced over the last year. We did have some corrections to bring things back to a normal state of growth instead of the hypergrowth we were experiencing - which was not sustainable. I deal mostly with buyers from around the US and there is clearly a strong, consistent interest in Santa Fe Real Estate - especially with retiring baby boomers. For those that are tired of the big cities, traffic and air pollution, this place seems like a slice of heaven.

If we look at all sales since November, 2006 until now, on average, homes are selling at very close to list price. Good to know if you are planning on buying a property in Santa Fe. Many people come here and make lowball offers because they assume the Santa Fe market is the same as their home market. As with any large purchase, it's always best to do some homework first!

Read about our first quarter results here: http://sfar.com/documents/HouseStatsNewRelApr07.pdf

Search Santa Fe MLS Listings here:

www.RealEstateinSantaFeNM.com

U.S. HOUSE PRICE APPRECIATION RATE STEADIES

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 1, 2007

Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) NEWS RELEASE CONTACT: Corinne Russell (202) 414-6921 Stefanie Mullin (202) 414-6376

---

U.S. HOUSE PRICE APPRECIATION RATE STEADIES

WASHINGTON, DC – The rate of home price appreciation in the U.S. remained steady in the fourth quarter of 2006, extending a general trend of deceleration begun earlier in the year. Home prices, based on repeat sales and refinancings, were 1.1 percent higher in the fourth quarter than they were in the third quarter of 2006. This is slightly above the revised growth estimate of 1.0 percent from the second to the third quarter. Prices in the fourth quarter of 2006 were 5.9 percent higher than they were in the same quarter in 2005.

Price appreciation in 2006 was substantially smaller than the tremendous price gains of recent years, which ranged from 7.4 percent in 2002 to 13.2 percent in 2005. The figures were released today by OFHEO Director James B. Lockhart, as part of the House Price Index (HPI), a quarterly report analyzing housing price appreciation trends.

“These data show that, on the whole, prices are still rising, albeit at a much slower pace,” said Lockhart. “This suggests that house price appreciation is, for now, more in line with historical norms.”

House prices grew faster over the past year than did prices of non-housing goods and services reflected in the Consumer Price Index. House prices rose 5.9 percent, while prices of other goods and services, excluding shelter, rose 0.9 percent.

“The continuing strength in the economy and decreasing interest rates for borrowers prevented a harder landing in housing markets during the second half of last year,” said OFHEO Chief Economist Patrick Lawler. “Last quarter, though sharper drops occurred locally, no state had average price declines of as much as one percent,” Lawler said.

Significant HPI Findings:

Highest and Lowest Appreciation:

1. The states with the greatest rates of appreciation between the fourth quarter of 2005 and the fourth quarter of 2006 were: Utah (17.6%), Wyoming (14.3%), Idaho (14.0%), Washington (13.7%), and Oregon (13.5%). The states with the lowest rates of appreciation for the same period were: Michigan (-0.4%), Massachusetts (0.5%), Ohio (1.0%), Indiana (2.3%), and Minnesota (2.5%).

2. The Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with the greatest rates of appreciation between the fourth quarter of 2005 and the fourth quarter of 2006 were: Bend, Oregon (21.4 %), Wenatchee, Washington (20.9%), and Provo-Orem, Utah (19.9%). The MSAs with the lowest rates of appreciation for the same period were: Kokomo, Indiana (-5.3%), Santa Barbara-Santa Maria- Goleta, California (-4.2%), and Jackson, Michigan (-3.9%).

3. Of the 282 cities on OFHEO’s list of “ranked” MSAs, 256 had positive four-quarter appreciation, 25 had price declines, and prices were unchanged in one city.

The complete list of state appreciation rates can be found on pages 13 and 14.

The complete list of city (MSA) appreciation rates is available on pages 26 - 45.

Other Notable Results:

1. Annual (four-quarter) rates of appreciation slowed in all nine census divisions relative to the third quarter.

2. In the Pacific Census Division, quarterly appreciation is decelerating rather dramatically. Prices grew 0.4 percent between the third and fourth quarter, nearly one full percentage point below the growth rate in the prior period.

3. California saw quarterly appreciation rates that were negative in 21 of the 26 cities on OFHEO’s list of “ranked” metropolitan areas.

4. Nevada, which had the highest statewide appreciation in the nation two years ago, is now ranked 40^th among the states with four-quarter appreciation of 3.9 percent.

5. Prices in and near areas affected by Hurricane Katrina such as: New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA; Baton Rouge, LA; Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA; Gulfport-Biloxi, MS; Hattiesburg, MS; Pascagoula, MS; and Mobile AL; all showed double-digit increases in 2006, indicating continuing supply shortages.

6. The Mountain Division continues to show relatively robust price growth with higher quarterly and annual appreciation rates than in any other census division. However, the price trends vary widely within the division with quarterly appreciation exceeding 2 percent in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and New Mexico. Arizona, meanwhile, experienced much lower quarterly appreciation of 1.0 percent, and Nevada prices declined 0.2 percent.

Purchase-Only Index

An index using only purchase price data indicates less price appreciation for U.S. houses than the HPI. A purchase-only index increased 4.1 percent between the fourth quarter of 2005 and the fourth quarter of 2006, compared with 5.9 percent for the HPI. The purchase-only index increased 0.5 percent (seasonally-adjusted) between the third and fourth quarters of 2006, compared with 1.1 percent for the HPI. The difference between the two appreciation measures may reflect differences in the types of homes refinanced versus those purchased or changing biases in the appraisal valuations and different proportions of appraisal and sales price data. (For more information see page 7).

Highlights

This quarter’s Highlights compares recent price trends in close-in city suburbs to those in more distant communities. The analysis suggests that in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami, appreciation rates in distant suburbs and the “exurbs” have decelerated much more rapidly than in the city center. In other large cities, the housing market slowdown has affected close-in and distant suburbs more uniformly. A brief analysis of the three cities with contrasting urban and suburban price trends suggests that those cities: (a) have high home prices relative to incomes and (b) do not offer affordability relief for individuals willing to make long commutes.

Background

OFHEO’s House Price Index is published on a quarterly basis and tracks average house price changes in repeat sales or refinancings of the same single-family properties. OFHEO’s index is based on analysis of data obtained from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from more than 32 million repeat transactions over the past 32 years. The more limited “purchase-only” index is based on 4.7 million transactions.

OFHEO analyzes the combined mortgage records of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which form the nation’s largest database of conventional, conforming mortgage transactions. The conforming loan limit for mortgages purchased in 2006 and 2007 is $417,000.

This HPI report contains four tables: 1) A ranking of the 50 States and Washington, D.C. by House Price Appreciation; 2) Percentage Changes in House Price Appreciation by Census Division; 3) A ranking of 282 MSAs and Metropolitan Divisions by House Price Appreciation; and 4) A list of one-year and five-year House Price Appreciation rates for MSAs not ranked.

Also, beginning with this release, index values are included for two new metropolitan areas: Lake Havasu-Kingman, Arizona and Palm Coast, Florida. These cities were recently given status as Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) by the Office of Management and Budget.

OFHEO’s full PDF of report is at: www.ofheo.gov/media/pdf/4q06hpi.pdf. Also, be sure to visit www.ofheo.gov to use the OFHEO House Price calculator. Please e-mail ofheoinquiries@ofheo.gov for a printed copy of the report. The next HPI report will be posted May 31, 2007.

###

OFHEO's mission is to promote housing and a strong national housing finance system by ensuring the safety and soundness of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

---

www.RealEstateinSantaFeNM.com

Check out this cool widget!

Click on the map to see where visitors to this blog are coming from!

Santa Fe named #4 Most Exciting City in US!

More than 300 Virtuoso travel specialists weighed in when they asked:
What are the most exciting cities in the US? Only New York, San Francisco and Chicago ranked higher. Well, all I can say is, we have FAR less traffic than those cities, fewer people and much better air! Read more about it here.

This is a picture from the very top of Tesuque Peak at Ski Santa Fe. That's how I spent the day yesterday - skiing in one of the most beautiful spots in the world, with excellent, powder conditions. It was a brisk 10 degrees...nothing some hand warmers couldn't take care of! They have an unbelivable Chicken Chile stew for lunch. Served with a hot tortilla...nothing tastes better at 12,000 feet.

The constant snowstorms here (every weekend since December) are making it somewhat challenging when bringing clients around to see houses. Good snowboots are a necessity, and a good sense of humor is a must. Oh...and a 4 wheel drive is essential.

www.RealEstateinSantaFeNM.com