The El Paso Real Estate Market Update | 2023 Spring

The El Paso Real Estate Market Update | 2023 Spring

Hey El Paso, thanks so much for checking out the YouTube channel. My name is John Peña with Peña El Paso Realty Group. If you are looking to buy or sell a home in El Paso, please consider reaching out to us. In this episode, we're going to do a spring 2023 market update for you here.

Nice and to the point. So let's start with the big macro and build down to the micro. So basically, in a nutshell, what's happening in 2023, essentially, the market is slow if home prices are going to bottom out, this is going to be the year that they're going

to do so. According to Zillow, essentially, they're predicting a fall of by about 1.6% in home prices, essentially. And then after that, for the next couple of years, back to kind of nominal appreciation

three and a half percent, more or less, as basically new home sales, they're, they're saying it's going to drop to levels that we haven't seen since about 2016. So pre pandemic, which makes sense, right. And then, of course, interest rates are what's driving all of this, or, you know, essentially

not driving it. And so we do know that the feds just said that they're going to do an interest rate increase of about half a percent, which means we're going to see mortgage rates around seven. But most people are thinking that by the end of 2023, we're going to be back around the

five to 6%. But of course, you know, anything could happen in the future. But that's what most people think on a broad kind of national level. And so what's exactly happening in El Paso, we're going to tell you right now.

And like I said, I want to keep it straight and to the point. Basically, there's more homes for sale because there are less home selling. And so once a home goes active on the market, it now is, you know, staying on the market longer.

So there's more homes on the market. And while you might think that, oh, prices are coming down, that is absolutely not the case. And so here's the proof of that.

The median sales price of a home in El Paso last month was basically about $245,000. That's up 8% from last year, February. Last year, February, the median average price of a home, the median sales price was $227,000. Now a year later, $245,000.

Home prices in El Paso, and I've said this a number of times, are not going down. Home prices have increased 8% just in the span of one year. So that's happening, and the data here supports that. So another data point that supports that is basically the median sold price per square

foot. We talk about sold price per square foot because it's a very important indicator of where home prices are. And that has increased just over 10% year over year.

So last month, the average price per square foot was $142. In February of 2022, $129. So you can see the increase there. So in a nutshell, prices have continued to appreciate at a pretty decent level, right?

Now here's where, though, we start to see where the market has slowed down. Closed sales. Last month, 554 homes actually closed, whereas a year ago, 735 homes closed. So less homes are actually selling, right?

The active inventory. Last month, there were about 1,865 homes actively for sale that you could purchase. A year ago, 1,475. So there were fewer homes last year, but that's also because homes were selling quicker, and

so they just didn't stay on the market. Now homes are staying on the market longer, so there's a greater number of them. How long are they staying on the market? Last month, the median days on market was about 22, which is still pretty good, three

weeks to sell your house. But a year ago, eight days on the market was the average. Homes were selling like hotcakes, right? The higher interest rates really hadn't kicked in yet, and so there was a lot more action.

So one more, new listings. This is actually a pretty close number. So last month, there were about 793 listings, whereas a year ago, 810. So what you can see is that home prices have increased, right?

But they're staying on the market longer, right? Less homes are selling now. Why? Higher interest rates.

But for the most part, we're still getting about the same number of listings that are coming to the market, so that hasn't dropped off. If you have to sell your home, you have to sell your home, especially if you're relocating for work or something happened in the family.

So homes are still selling. So that's kind of the market update for spring 2023. What does it mean for buyers? Well, it means that, one, you have a lot more choices in what homes are available, right?

That active inventory is up, which is great. It means that, unfortunately, you haven't seen prices come down. But again, we've been saying this all along, that we do not think prices in El Paso are going to come down because we're not an overly inflated market like a lot of other places.

We're still a pretty reasonably priced market. So prices haven't come down for buyers. And the good news, I guess, for buyers is that you're not having to compete in that crazy market where every home's getting like 20 offers and people are, you know, offering

$20,000 over the asking price. So that's certainly the good news for buyers. Unfortunately, the bad news for buyers is that interest rates are still pretty volatile. And so you're likely getting a higher interest rate.

What does this mean for sellers? It means that homes are still selling for a good price. So you're going to get more for your home this year than you would have even last year when it was still pretty, pretty active.

The bad news, I guess, is that it's probably going to take longer for your home to sell and you're not going to be receiving multiple offers and people are not going to be offering you $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 over your asking price. Unfortunately, those days are over.

So it's likely that you'll see a moderate amount of offers and most of them will be at asking price or now buyers are feeling a little more frisky, so they might start to offer you even less. But homes are still selling, but they're going to take a little bit longer.

So we hope that this information is useful to you. As always, if you're finding the information useful, please consider subscribing to the YouTube channel. Don't be shy to reach out with comments or questions.

And we look forward to seeing you in the next episode.