Durango Residential Real Estate Sales Statistics Year-To-Year
Numbers guy that I am, I really enjoy analyzing the Durango residential real estate sales statistics and do so every quarter. I examine those statistics for the entire County of La Plata which would include the cities of Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio. While the individual numbers are important, but I really like to analyze is the comparison of this year’s numbers to last year’s numbers so that I can determine a trend. Are we trending in the right direction? Is the decline in number of units available for sale important? Lots of things can be analyzed when looking at these Durango real estate statistics. The entire analysis can be viewed in a chart form at the following link: Durango Real Estate Sales Statistics 2011-2010
The quick overview shows residential sales volume in dollars for 2011 increased by 10.7% from 2010. Additionally, sales of all types of real estate (that would be residential, vacant land and commercial) increased by 13.19%. Residential median and average sales prices dropped slightly which was reflected in the fact that more homes in the lower price ranges sold this year compared to last.
The single busiest market segment were homes in the $200,000-$400,000 price range where 360 homes sold this year compared to 326 homes last year which is a 10.4% increase. As expected, over half of those were either Durango in town homes (156 units sold) or homes in the country but with a Durango mailing address (103 units sold). Sales of Bayfield in town homes slowed considerably going from 43 units in 2010 down to 22 units in 2011. The Bayfield residential rural sales stayed steady with 45 sales this year and 45 sales last year. When you look at the chart I referred to above, you’ll notice that the currently available inventory in this particular price range dropped from 400 units last year to just 276 units this year. The absorption rate dropped to .77 years (approximately 9 months) and is the only price range that is under one year. Since there is the most activity in that price range it would be normal to expect a faster rate of absorption.
Another area that I look at and track is the number of all-cash transactions. That is, a purchase where there was no loan using the property as collateral. Over the last several years the number of transactions like this has increased. Of the 676 total houses sold in 2011, 178 of them did not involve loan. That represents 26.3% of all residential transactions. In 2010, that number was 22.73%. That seems like a pretty significant increase. The question is “why is this happening?” I think that there are two reasons: (1) with loans getting harder to obtain, some buyers have been forced to dip into savings or possibly even obtain a home equity loan using another property as collateral; (2) people that have money are realizing that real estate prices are coming out of the all-time low and there are lots of good bargains out there but they are being gobbled up which is reflected in the lower inventory figures mentioned above. With banks and CDs paying less than 2%, an all cash transaction that would generate rental income and give good upside potential looks pretty appealing. I called the second group of people “the smart money” people. You’ve heard the old saying many times “buy when the prices are low, and the sell when the prices are high”. I think that more and more people are realizing that there are some excellent opportunities and that this type of investment opportunity does not come along every day.
Please take a look at the chart that I have prepared in a spreadsheet form because I think as you review it, you will see areas of opportunity. Here is a link to that page:
