Trulia's Housing Barometer has been tracking the housing market's recovery since February 2012.

The Barometer measures how quickly the market has been returning to normal by comparing existing-home sales, prices, delinquency and foreclosure rates, new home starts, and the employment rate for 25-34 year-olds against their pre-bubble normal and their lowest reading during the housing crisis.

The most recent release shows that three of the five indicators have improved significantly over the past year and are now close to normal.

Existing-home sales, for example, are 79 percent back to normal, up from 51 percent a year earlier. Prices also have recovered dramatically from a year ago and are now 71 percent back to normal.

Among the other indicators, foreclosure and delinquency rates have recovered 59 percent, while new home starts and employment levels still have a ways to go. Overall, the recovery has been uneven but, at the current pace, non-distressed sales and home prices could reach normal levels this year, with the other indicators taking a bit longer to fully recover.

Listen up, buyers for the Taos and Angel Fire real estate market! This sounds to me like prices may eke up a bit this year. You know Taos and Angel Fire are two of the best small towns in the U.S. Buyers from all over have flocked here in recent years to buy condos, single family homes, land and vacation homes and casitas. 2014 may be just the right time to get out here and see what's available. Your piece of paradise awaits!

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Applications Survey, the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages was unchanged last week from the week before. Mortgage rates held steady for loans with both conforming and jumbo balances, while 15-year rates increased. Demand for loan applications, on the other hand, was up - rising 2.6 percent from the previous week. The Refinance Index spiked 5 percent – after falling 9 percent a week earlier - and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index fell 1 percent. The results were adjusted to account for the New Year's Day holiday. Also in the report, the refinance share of total mortgage activity remained at 63 percent from the week before. The Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Applications Survey covers more than 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications and has been conducted since 1990.

Sounds like buyers are gearing up again this year to buy or refinance. Here in the Taos and Angel Fire real estate market, we're anticipating another good year in real estate sales. Leads coming in to our office from trulia.com and zillow.com are brisk. We're seeing interest in all kinds of properties: condos, land, casitas, single family homes and more. Hope we see you, too, in 2014 here in Taos and Angel Fire!

The number of Americans who have a positive perception of the current housing market has improved significantly from a year earlier, according to Fannie Mae's December National Housing Survey. The year-over-year gains reflect an increasingly strong recovery, despite a dip in sentiment during the fall.

For example, the percentage of respondents who feel it's a good time to sell a house rose from 21 percent to 33 percent over the last year. The percentage of participants who said they felt it would be easy to obtain a home mortgage also increased over the past 12 months, from 45 percent last year to 50 percent in the most recent survey. Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae, said consumer attitudes about the ease of getting a mortgage today are at their highest level in the survey's three-and-a-half-year history. According to Duncan, that improvement should help offset the effects of higher mortgage rates and support a continued but measured housing recovery as we move through 2014. Also, the number of Americans who believe now is a good time to buy a home jumped to 67 percent and the percentage of respondents who feel their personal financial situation will get better in the next year was up four points to 42 percent.

With this kind of enthusiasm from potential buyers, we in the Taos and Angel Fire real estate market are convinced 2014 will see even higher sales than in 2013. Taos and Angel Fire real estate is becoming popular, not only with vacation home and second home buyers, but with young people and families. With the dramatic rise of telecommuting jobs many buyers are looking at a home in Taos or Angel Fire as a great way to get out of the rat race and still have a good job.

In 2013, home prices and buyer demand both spiked as the housing recovery took hold in markets across the country. Double-digit increases in home values brought prices to a level last seen in 2004. But, according to Zillow's November Real Estate Market Report, annual and monthly price trends indicate the robust recovery seen throughout 2013 is beginning to slow to more sustainable levels.

The slowing price growth is partly driven by decreasing negative equity rates. As homeowners recoup value lost during the recent recession, more of those homes are put up for sale which increases inventory levels and normalizes price gains. And in addition to an increasing supply of previously owned homes, new home construction is expected to ramp up over the next year, adding further relief to constrained inventory levels across the country. If these trends continue, 2014 will likely see improved for-sale inventory levels, slower price increases, and more potential buyers entering the market to purchase homes.

Here at New Mexico Mountain Properties, we're already getting calls and email inquiries. For early January, this is a very encouraging sign. Buyers for homes, condos and land here in Taos and Angel Fire are out looking and 2014 seems to be on track for another great year!

The Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Applications Survey covers more than 75 percent of all U.S. residential mortgage applications and is a measure of both refinancing and home purchase demand.

According to the most recent release, total mortgage loan application volume fell by 5.5 percent last week from one week earlier. Both the Refinance Index and the Purchase Index fell 6 percent from the previous week. Mike Fratantoni, MBA's vice president of research and economics, said the market index fell to its lowest level in more than a dozen years. According to Fratantoni, purchase and refinance demand dropped due to increasing interest rates. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances edged up last week, reaching its highest level since September.

This time of year low mortgage demand in the Taos real estate market is normal! Our busy selling season ends in late October and doesn't pick up markedly until late spring. The Taos real estate market is normally immune to national market statistics.

However, it does look like interest rates are rising a bit. So, be thinking about buying in early spring before interest rates rise further. Remember, you WILL find your piece of paradise here in Taos! Remember, your casita, condo or second home awaits!

According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, new residential construction spiked 22.7 percent in November and is now nearly 30 percent above last year's level.

The increase was the largest since January 1990 and brought housing starts to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,091,000. Despite the improvement, new home construction remains below historical average. From 1959 through 2000, housing starts averaged 1.5 million per year.

Still, with single-family housing starts up 20.8 percent month-over-month and demographics and household formation suggesting more growth, new home construction should continue to improve. The gains were better than economists expected and indicate a strengthening economy.

And a strong economy is what we're seeing here in the Taos area. We have a couple of new restaurants in Taos and tourism was up over last year.

Begin your search now for a condo, home or land purchase. We're here to help!

December 5, 2013 - Markets in 54 out of the approximately 350 metro areas nationwide returned to or exceeded their last normal levels of economic and housing activity, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Leading Markets Index (LMI), released today. The index's nationwide score of .86 indicates that, based on current permits, prices and employment data, the nationwide market is running at 86 percent of normal economic and housing activity.

The LMI figures for November showed that 55 housing markets were operating at or above their last normal levels and the nationwide market was operating at 85 percent of normal growth. LMI data for the two months were released simultaneously because of the delay in collecting data during the partial government shutdown in October. "This index shows that most housing markets across the nation are continuing a slow, gradual climb back to normal levels," said NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder from Charlotte, N.C. "Policymakers must guard against actions that could impede or even reverse the modest gains of the past year."

Noting that smaller metros accounted for most of the 54 markets on the current LMI that are at or above normal levels, NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said that "smaller markets are leading the way, particularly where energy is the primary economic driver. Nearly half of the markets in the top 54 are in the energy states of Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana." "The fact that more than 125 markets on this month's LMI are showing activity levels of at least 90 percent of previous norms bodes well for a continuing housing recovery in 2014," said Kurt Pfotenhauer, vice chairman of First American Title Insurance Co., which co-sponsors the LMI report.

Baton Rouge, La., tops the list of major metros on the LMI, with a score of 1.42 – or 42 percent better than its last normal market level. Other major metros at the top of the list include Honolulu, Oklahoma City, Austin and Houston, Texas, as well as Pittsburgh – all of whose LMI scores indicate that their market activity now exceeds previous norms.

Looking at smaller metros, both Odessa and Midland, Texas, boast LMI scores of 2.0 or better, meaning that their markets are now at double their strength prior to the recession. Also at the top of the list of smaller metros are Casper, Wyo.; Bismarck, N.D.; and Grand Forks, N.D., respectively.

The LMI shifts the focus from identifying markets that have recently begun to recover, which was the aim of a previous gauge known as the Improving Markets Index, to identifying those areas that are now approaching and exceeding their previous normal levels of economic and housing activity. More than 350 metro areas are scored by taking their average permit, price and employment levels for the past 12 months and dividing each by their annual average over the last period of normal growth. For single-family permits and home prices, 2000-2003 is used as the last normal period, and for employment, 2007 is the base comparison. The three components are then averaged to provide an overall score for each market; a national score is calculated based on national measures of the three metrics. An index value above one indicates that a market has advanced beyond its previous normal level of economic activity.

Editor's Note: In calculating the LMI, NAHB utilizes employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, house price appreciation data from Freddie Mac and single-family housing permits from the U.S. Census Bureau. The LMI is published on the fourth working day of each month, unless that day falls on a Friday -- in which case, it is released on the following Monday.

For historical information and charts, please go to nahb.org/lmi.

Does a smaller community mean better and more stable housing market? We Taosenos believe there are significant market factors here which offer better pricing on existing homes and a better quality of life for residents. Consider Taos for your perfect get-away home, your retirement condo, or starter home casita.

The Census Bureau's American Community Survey collects a wide range of important statistics about communities across the country. A recent housing brief released by the Bureau – which used the survey to focus on homeownership rates and home values across the country – found that small counties fared better following the recession as compared to larger counties. Among the 50 largest metro areas, median home values fell in 43 of them and 49 out of 50 saw declining homeownership rates after the most recent recession. Among counties with populations between 20,000 and 65,000, on the other hand, 66.9 percent had median home values that were not statistically different from pre-recession levels.

With the town of Taos population sitting at about 6000 full-time residents, and the Taos County population of about 30,000, Taos is the perfect place for stable home values, and an excellent quality of life experience. Think about Taos real estate as your next home investment.

Americans' confidence in the economy continued to recover last week after taking a hit during the partial U.S. government shutdown. Gallup's Economic Confidence Index rose to -24, much improved from -39 in mid-October during the shutdown, but it has not yet bounced back to the -15 found in mid-September.

Americans' economic outlook score entered positive territory in late May and early June for the first time since Gallup Daily tracking began in January 2008. The public's perception of the economy's direction has generally soured since then and got much worse during the government shutdown. Americans' outlook is on the upswing, though, rising 20 points since mid-October.

Hopefully interest rates will remain low (they've gone down a bit since the rate hike in June), and 2014 will show a continuing rebound seen this year.

If interest rates remain low, I predict the Taos real estate market will be even better next year. Not only is Taos a great market for second/vacation homes, but for first time buyers looking to get out of the city and begin a slower-paced life. Many of these city refugees telecommute to their jobs in large urban areas. They love the lifestyle of a peaceful, beautiful Taos, but are still able to make the monthly nut by telecommuting. It's a win/win for them.

The Taos market is varied and vast. You can live in the mountains, or look at them from the mesa. You can live in town in a quaint casita, or on the edge of the Rio Grande Gorge in an earthship community. The Land of Enchantment awaits your vision.

Angel Fire real estate purchases are increasing as the spring selling season gets underway. Folks are out looking and buying, taking advantage of low interest rates.

Second home sales are brisk in the New Mexico Mountain Properties office, and land sales are picking up, too, after a long hiatus.

Finding a new home can be stress-free if you follow some common sense guidelines:

1) Work with a Realtor! New Mexico Mountain Properties has offices in Taos and Angel Fire. We know these markets; our agents have lived and worked in these areas for 15+ years. Many of our clients see our listings on Trulia, Zillow and other real estate websites and contact us for more information. They may like a house or a piece of land, but buyers know they must rely on our knowledge of the areas to ascertain whether or not they will be a good fit for their needs.

2) Before you look at any property, do some research. Determine which features you want in a home, condo or piece of vacant land. You may want several bedrooms, baths, room for guests, or your new homesite may be best in the trees or on the mesa with 360-degree views.

3) If you will need a mortgage, dig up all your financial records. Mortgaging takes a bit longer today, sometimes up to 60 days for a typical closing. Get a pre-qualification letter for a loan in your price range.

4) When do you want to move? Have you sold your current property? Or when is your lease coming up?

5) Get real. If you're naturally super picky about your dream property, don't be too narrow minded about the possibilities. Remember, you're choosing a different path than the one you're on; be open to new possibilities via your new home purchase.

Remember, a new move is a new adventure. Angel Fire is chock-full of people from all over the world. Many of us came here to escape the rat race, to embark on a new life plan.

Adventure and new beginnings are part of what we Realtors at New Mexico Mountain Properties sell. We would love to help you make your new dream come true, and make your new dream home in Angel Fire materialize just the way you want it to.

Homes, land, condos, or that fabulous adobe casita are here waiting for you.

All best,

Katheryn Pate, Associate Broker, New Mexico Mountain Properties: 575-770-5023