ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Albuquerque’s housing market is a mixed bag. After a crazy few years of home prices skyrocketing, now the economy is playing a giant role.

Realtors said they are starting to see improvements as buyers are now able to take their time before buying, which is good news as summer rolls around.

“The last two years were crazy. It was so busy both for sellers and for buyers,” said realtor Gavin Malm.

For the past few years, the housing market in Albuquerque has been what Malm calls an “anomaly.”

“We would be looking at homes, and I would already have to pre-write the offer knowing this is a property, we are likely going to put an offer in, and I need to get it in as soon as possible,” said Malm.

Interest rates, inflation, and home prices are all playing a factor in home sales.

“What I’m finding is homes are sitting on the market a little bit longer, closer to like forty days compared to this time last year, it was less than 17,” said Malm. “They have a little bit more time, that doesn’t mean it’s not competitive, it’s still very competitive, but nowhere near where it was last year.”

When the temperatures start to get warmer, it’s the time of year when more homes go on the market.

“We’re going to see a lot more homes hit the market as families are ready to make a move at the end of the school year,” said Malm.

Houses sold in March of this year are down almost 25% compared to the same month last year.

“We do have more listings on the market currently right now. In our MLS, we have about 1,200 listings. In Albuquerque, we are in the 600s,” said Malm.

While things like rates and availability improve, some things are still creating a hurdle, prices.

“Prices on homes in Albuquerque are still historically higher than they’ve ever been,” said Malm.

Malm said the city needs more homes for first-time homebuyers.

“A lot of people simply can’t qualify to buy a home. We don’t have a ton of properties that are starter homes, or what we’d consider starter home pricing, and that’s still pretty tough to see,” said Malm.

Malm said for people looking to buy right now to be patient, as more homes will pop up in the next two to six weeks.

The median home sales price in March was $337,000. That is up more than 3% year to year and more than $150,000 from 10 years ago.