Current MetroABQ Housing Crunch
The Albuquerque Metropolitan area is experiencing a profound housing crunch. The amount of available homes for sale last year was about half of the supply of the previous year; meanwhile, the demand for homes has increased considerably. Reasonably-priced homes for sale are receiving offers in a few days, instead of weeks as in years past. There are a lot of factors influencing this hyper-housing trend.
In general, more folks are moving to the city & state now than at any time in the previous decade. The relocation of even a few large companies to the area over the last year provides numerous & varied types of employment & is impacting our housing.
To name a few, the recently announced Group Orion project may bring over 1000 aerospace jobs & will build on 80 acres adjacent to the Sunport. The westside Amazon Fulfillment Center began construction last year & is the largest private building in the state of NM, with over 2.5 million squarefeet when it's completed this year, seen below. The project, with plenty of room to expand, will hopefully open the door for other larger companies to settle in that area. Although not a recent move to the Metro, it is appreciated that the Facebook Data Center in Los Lunas, built in 2016, is powered by 100% clean, renewable energy through solar & wind plants.
These economic developments are encouraging & are undoubtedly helping to spur the residential housing boom & increasing the values of our homes. More housing certainly helps though.
Which is the reason that brought us back to the master-planned community of Mesa del Sol, just south of the ABQ Sunport: two developers have started their next building phases, adding a total of 200 new homes on the mesa-top. The business & residential presence has been slowly strengthening over the last decade, & the new phases of homes will undoubtedly help cement the importance of the community.
The image below shows the pace of new construction, with rows of newly completed homes ready to move in, with starter landscaping in front. Directly above: these homes will be a bit larger than the first Mesa del Sol neighborhoods, with the largest floorplans just over 2000 squarefeet.
Below is a view facing the Sandia Mountains, with one of the newer sections in the foreground. The image was taken from the Perspective Trail, a walking/biking path that begins near the Aperture Center.
