The metro Albuquerque real estate market continued to improve during September. The 661 single family detached homes sold during the month represented a 9.4% increase as compared to September 2008. That makes September the second month in 2009 during which sales increased over the previous year. Detached home sales rose 10.2% from August and were the second highest of 2009, after only July.  Sales of attached homes—townhouses and condominiums— were up 34% over September 2008, the third consecutive month with year over year sales growth.  Improvement in the attached home market added a new dimension in September.  Not only did sales increase, so did median and average prices, the first month during 2009  to see price appreciation. The median attached home price, $142,500 for September, was up 5.6% over September 2008. The average price increased 0.6% to $152,094. For detached homes, two key indicators of the future market brightened during September. The 923 pending sales for detached homes during September were 31% more than September 2008, predicting that the number of sales closed during October should improve from the previous year. The pending sales figure was the highest for the month of September since 2006. For attached homes, September pending sales were up 44% over a year ago. During September, 5,156 homes were offered for sale, the lowest figure of 2009 and 16.6% fewer than September 2008. The inventory of homes for sale has dropped, on a year over year basis, for every month of 2009. Total new listings were 1,375 during September, down 8.5% from September 2008. As inventory drops, homes can be expected to sell faster. Metro Albuquerque had a 6.5 month supply of inventory during September. The supply was 13.4 months in February, says Terradatum, a real estate data reporting firm. Prices for detached homes declined again during September. However, the rate of the decline is dropping, indicating that the increased demand for homes will start to push up prices.