SANTA FE – Anyone considering purchasing a home in the Santa Fe area better do so quick – they’re becoming an increasingly rare item.
The inventory of homes for sale in Santa Fe dropped to record lows during the last three months of 2020, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Santa Fe Association of Realtors.
The report shows inventory for single-family homes in Santa Fe County decreased by a staggering 54% – from 492 in the fourth quarter of 2019 to 228 at the end of 2020 – reaching new lows not seen for in the area for at least 15 years.
“Our historic low is kind of the norm now,” SFAR President Roger Carson told the Journal.
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That’s good news for home sellers, though, as the median home price increased by 10% to $606,500 in Santa Fe County. Within Santa Fe’s city limits, the median price increased by more than 28% from $373,500 to $480,000.
This comes as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to radically alter the lives of everyday Americans, both at home and in the workplace. Local real estate agents have said many more people are moving from larger cities to areas like Santa Fe, making a more permanent transition to working from home instead of an office.
However, local Santa Feans aren’t leaving the city in large enough numbers to make up for the increasing demand, Carson said.
It’s a confluence of events that’s exacerbating longstanding housing inventory and affordability issues in the area, increasing difficulty for locals to enter the housing market.
Affordability in housing saw a year-over-year decrease of 13%, the report found, due in large part to soaring home prices.
But he said the trends are creating a new sense of urgency to address the affordability issue.
Wages in Santa Fe aren’t keeping up with housing prices, meaning locals will have a harder time affording new homes.
“We’re not keeping up with affordability,” Carson said.
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