Industry News
While typically a winter season can bring real estate sales to a crawl that’s not the case in Angel Fire, New Mexico. Angel Fire, located in the Southern Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico, has been dubbed “America’s Most Affordable Ski Town” by Realtor.com and the “Last Affordable Ski Town in America” by Teton Gravity Research and is now celebrating another record year of growth. 2018 was the third consecutive record-breaking real estate year and the beginning of 2019 is showing no signs of cooling down. As ski lift tickets climb in pricing and traffic gets more crowded in states like Colorado and Utah, many skiers aren’t aware of what the “Land of Enchantment” has to offer.
The uptick in sales in the year-round resort community jumped significantly in 2016 as the area climbed out of a recessive market. Over the past two years, single-family homes and condo sales have continued to grow. In 2018 single family homes sales in Angel Fire, Black Lake and Eagle Nest are up 25% over last year. Condo sales are up 10% over last year.
“We’re seeing more families coming in from surrounding states who are looking for an affordable second home close to skiing and golf,” explained, long time Angel Fire Broker, Michael Woolley of RE/MAX Mountain Realty, the highest selling agency in Angel Fire. “We’ve sold homes to many who have said they overwhelmed by the large crowds and sky-high prices in ski towns in other states. We love that we can show families beautiful houses, in their price range, in this stunning valley.”
The median price for a house in Angel Fire has climbed 10% over last year but, at $349,000 it’s still 20-25% below average house pricing in comparable ski resort towns.
“The numbers are showing that Northern New Mexico is growing every year. Our days on the market have been dropping each year. Homes are selling quickly but, it also means that there is less inventory available,” Woolley added. “If there are people who are looking to sell their homes, even in the winter, the market is still very active. We haven’t seen a significant slow-down in buyers from fall to winter.”
According to The Taos County Association of Realtors (TCAR) 2018, the community of Angel Fire has seen the most significant sales uptick in single-family home sales compared to other northern New Mexico communities. According to TCAR Angel Fire saw a 30% increase in single-family homes and 27% in condo sales in just the first half of 2018.
“The Colorado Effect,” coined by real estate developers, is one of the main reasons behind the Angel Fire real estate boom. Many families are feeling the pinch of huge crowds, traffic problems along the popular I-70 corridor, and high prices for real estate in their favorite Colorado mountain towns. Similar over-crowding and high-price hikes have happened in other popular ski states which have led many second home buyers to turn their focus to New Mexico and specifically Angel Fire, which is proving to be the perfect landing spot. The majority of home sales are to Texas, Colorado and New Mexico families looking to escape the summer heat and enjoy the winter outdoor activities and hunting. Michael Woolley’s agency, RE/MAX Mountain Realty, closed over $50 Million in sales in 2018. Woolley’s agency has sold more real estate in Angel Fire over the past 12 years than his competitors.
“We’ve always been a popular place for Texans, but now we’re seeing people from New Mexico and Colorado who are interested in buying homes in Angel Fire. We are an easy 3-hour drive from Albuquerque and only 6 hours from Denver. We have the perfect cool summer climate and great biking trails, great hunting, ideal family-friendly vibe, and all the winter activities of the big ski towns. We expect the real estate market to stay hot for a long time.”
Additionally, if a home, condo or land is purchased within Angel Fire Resort, the owners are entitled to membership to the Resort. The Membership includes access to downhill and Nordic skiing, snowboarding, golf, country club indoor pool, dining, tennis, downhill, and cross-country mountain biking, ziplining, fishing, boating and fitness classes.
I absolutely love this place and your site helped so much even though its from 2019. Not in the market now but will call you when I am.
May be a somewhat decent ski area but scenery is a total eyesore with condo’s
and timeshares plastered everywhere.