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How Old is That Home?

This article looks at the ages of single-family, detached homes listed for sale in the Greater Albuquerque market areas. The Southwest MLS offers a specific Age field in the listing form that identifies the age of the home. The age can be reported as a date range, newly completed, proposed construction, under construction, or unknown.

The data used for this article was based on detached homes that were listed for sale on December 9, 2009 and detached homes that were reported as sold between January 1, 2009 and November 30, 2009.

The Greater Albuquerque market area is defined by the Southwest MLS Areas which include the City of Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Corrales, Placiticas, Bernalillo, East Mountains/Estancia Basin and most of Valencia County.

Chart A: Detached Homes for Sale on December 9, 2009.

16.18 percent of detached homes were reported as being 1-3 years old.
13.87 percent of detached homes were reported as being 4-6 years old.
9.31 percent of detached homes were reported as having an unknown age.

Chart B: Detached Homes Reported Sold from January 1 through November 30, 2009.

14.07 percent of detached homes were reported as being 4-6 years old.
12.18 percent of detached homes were reported as being 10-15 years old.
10.85 percent of detached homes had an unknown age.

Chart C: SWMLS Area Descriptions


Chart D: Detached Homes for Sale in December 2009, by MLS Area.


Chart E: Detached Homes Reported Sold from January 1 through November 30, 2009 by MLS Area.


Chart F: Median Sale Price by Age for Detached Homes Reported Sold from January 1 through November 30, 2009.


What About the Year Built Field?
There is an additional field in the MLS called Year Built that can identify the age of a home. This field is not used as frequently as the Age field. For the detached homes for sale (active listings) in December 2009 only 60.0% of the listings reported a valid Year Built. For the detached homes reported sold from January through November 2009 only 59.9% of the listings reported a valid Year Built.

The existing data indicates that newer homes, built in the last ten years, are more likely to have a Year Built identified on the listing. The years 2005 and 2006 were the most reported Year Built for both the existing and 2009 sold inventory in the Greater Albuquerque market areas.

Note on "unknown" ages of properties.
Here are some of the different ways that the Age and Year Built of a home can be determined when the seller doesn't know.
1. Try to identify the architectural style of the house
2. Examine the building materials and construction methods used in the construction of the home
3. Contact a previous owner of the home
4. Check with the tax assessor
5. Check County Register of Deeds
6. Locate original floor plan