Claudia Hargrove Thoughts

The Greater El Paso Association of Realtors just released the market report for June 2017. I’ve listed some highlights from the report below:

Home Sales

Single‐family detached homes sales in El Paso were 751 for June 2017,up 9% from June 2016. Resale homes represented 70% of single‐family sales, with new homes at 30%.

Home Prices

Single‐family homes saw the median sale price at $150,950 and average sale price at $164,521. The average sale price showed an increase of 1% from June 2016.

Under Contract

699 pending sales were reported in June, down 3.7% from June 2016. The average Days on Market, from listing date to pending date, was 82 days in June.

The full report can be retrieved from here: June_2017_MLS_Stats.02

Claudia Hargrove Thoughts

The population of El Paso is somewhat affluent compared to others in Texas with a median income of $40,741 per household. It’s also considered an expensive city in terms of affordability with a cost of living adjustment score of 86.0. The three zip codes with the largest populations are 79936, 79912, and 79924. El Paso is made up of homes that are relatively old with a median of 33 years. Topping the list of best schools in the city is Silva Health Magnet.

Claudia Hargrove Thoughts

Preliminary valuations of single-family homes by the El Paso Central Appraisal District remained little changed for the second year in a row, but values for apartments jumped 15 percent and commercial property by 7 percent.

Dan Olivas, president of the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors, expressed concern about values in the single-family home market because they’re an important indicator for the city’s economy and more.

“The real estate market in El Paso as a whole is really rather vibrant, but it’s driven by those areas outside the city’s core area,” Olivas said.

The CAD sets valuations for more than 30 taxing jurisdictions in El Paso County and is required to provide local governments with certified appraisal rolls by July 25 so they can use the values to set tax rates.

This was not a reappraisal year for the CAD, meaning only a sample of properties was reappraised. But it did inch up values for 169,840 single-family homes by 1.8 percent to $19 billion. Values in some neighborhoods actually declined.

Of that increase, 1.1 percent came from the construction of 1,892 new houses last year. So the taxable value of El Paso’s pre-existing homes increased by an anemic 0.8 percent with thousands of appeals pending.

Single-family homes account for 54 percent of the city’s $35.1 billion tax roll.

UTEP economist Tom Fullerton was a little surprised by such a small increase in residential valuations.

“The change in taxable values from 2016 to 2017 are lower than what the UTEP econometric forecast anticipated,” he said. “The CAD values also seem somewhat less robust than what the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors’ data indicate. It appears that homeowners have dodged a bullet in terms of taxable values this year.”

Outside the city, preliminary home values shot up 11.3 percent in the Clint Independent School District and by 5.9 percent in the Canutillo school district.

The CAD will conduct a full appraisal of properties next year, and Fullerton said the valuation increases outside El Paso this year could be a harbinger of increases in the city next year.

Great article from David Crowder at El Paso Inc.

Claudia Hargrove Thoughts

Hola! Here we go. Over the past 30+ years in the real estate business, I have met so many wonderful people…