For Buyers • Fun Facts • April 29, 2019

What’s New?

by Rondi duPont

All about new homes…

Nationally, sales of new homes are up 3% over last year and are running at an annualized pace of 697,000 homes.

To put that in perspective, in April 2011 the annual pace was 310,000 homes and in April 2005 it was 1,260,000.

So, nationally, new home starts are roughly double what they were at their lowest point in recent history and roughly half of what there were at their highest point.

How about locally?

According to our friends at Metrostudy, sales of new homes along the Front Range are up 20% over last year.

Front Range builders have had 28 consecutive quarters of new home start increases and are now building a similar amount of new homes as compared to 2007.

So, the new home market is strong but there is no indication of builders over-supplying the market.

Blog • Fun Facts • April 12, 2019

Which Market?

by Rondi duPont

So, which is it? A buyer’s market or a seller’s market?

Well, it depends!

First, let’s define each market. According to research, a buyer’s market exists when there is more than 4-6 months of inventory on the market.

If it would take longer than 4-6 months to sell out all of the inventory currently for sale, then it is a buyer’s market.

This calculation is obviously a function of the amount of inventory on the market and the current pace of sales.

A seller’s market exists if it would take shorter than 4-6 months.

So, which is it?

It depends very much on the price range.

Here are the numbers for Northern Colorado:

• $300,000 to $400,000 = 0.9 months
• $400,000 to $500,000 = 1.9 months
• $500,000 to $750,000 = 2.3 months
• $750,000 and over = 5.8 months

So, most price ranges are a clear seller’s market. It’s not until $750,000 and over that the market starts to approach a more balanced state.

Here’s one more thing that might help you…

You probably don’t need a reminder that this is tax season.

Not only because tax returns are due in two weeks but also because you will soon receive your property tax notification in the mail.

Every two years your County re-assesses the value of your property and then sends that new value to you.

When this happens, many of our clients:

Don’t agree with the new assessed value
Aren’t sure what to do
Are confused by the process
Want to save money on property taxes

Good news! We have a webinar that will help you. On the webinar we will show you:

How to read the information from the County
What it means for you
How to protest the valuation if you want
How to get an accurate estimate of your property’s value

You can listen to the webinar live or get the recording. In any case, you can sign up at www.WindermereWorkshop.com

The webinar is April 17th at 10:00. If you can’t join live, go ahead and register so you can automatically receive the recording.

This is a complimentary online workshop for all of our clients. I hope you can join!

Fort Collins Real Estate • Fun Facts • March 1, 2019

Vegas Baby

by Rondi duPont

The results are in from FHFA.gov’s latest ranking of the top performing markets in the U.S.

Each quarter they track 245 cities across the country and rank their real estate markets by home price appreciation.

What’s the highest performing city the the U.S.

Vegas! Their prices have gone up 17.63% in the last year.

How about the worst?

Bloomington, Illinois sits in dead last where prices went down 3.58%

Here’s how Colorado cities are ranked:

• #10 Colo. Springs = 11.41%
• #16 Greeley = 10.68%
• #59 Fort Collins = 8.29%
• #64 Denver = 8.15%
• #97 Boulder = 6.85%

Fort Collins Real Estate • Fort Collins Realtor • Fun Facts • Windsor Real Estate • February 23, 2019

4 in 40

by Rondi duPont

Did you know, according to FHFA, process in Larimer County have dropped more than 1% only 4 times in the last 40 years?

FHFA stands for the Federal Housing Finance Authority. We are one of 261 markets that they track. Since 1978 they have been measuring home price appreciation here.

If you look at the appreciation numbers for each individual year, you will notice that most years the prices go up and some years the prices go down.

But there have only been 4 times in those 40 years where prices decreased more than 1%

Here’s what happened those 4 times:

• 1982 = -3.99%

• 1987 = -1.86%

• 2008 = -2.29%

• 2010 = -1.12%

Sometimes we hear buyers say that they would like to wait for the “prices to come crashing down.” The reality is that the price drops don’t happen all that often and when they do, they don’t drop by that much at all.

If you would like to see a short video with a recap of our annual Market Forecast presentation, watch the video below.

Forecast • Fort Collins Real Estate • Fort Collins Realtor • February 12, 2019

2019 Annual Forecast

by Rondi duPont

If you missed our Annual Forecast Review last month, click the link below to get a recap of the event:

Fort Collins Realtor • Fun Facts • October 21, 2018

A History Lesson

by Rondi duPont

One of the most common questions we hear from clients is “Where do you think interest rates are going?”

Virtually all of the experts we follow put rates above 5% going into next year and some see rates approaching 5.5% by the middle of 2019. What’s certain is that there are economic forces at work that are pushing rates higher.

So, how about a little history lesson? How do today’s 30- year mortgage rates compare to this same date in history going all the way back to 1990?

• Today = 4.85%
• 2017 = 3.94%
• 2015 = 3.82%
• 2010 = 4.27%
• 2005 = 5.98%
• 2000 = 7.84%
• 1995 = 7.75%
• 1990 = 10.22%

While today’s rates feel high only because they are higher than 2017, they are quite a bit lower than at many times in history.

Fort Collins Realtor • Gardner Report • Northern Colorado Real Estate • July 31, 2018

2nd Quarter Gardner Report

by Rondi duPont

The following analysis of the Metro Denver & Northern Colorado real estate market (which now includes Clear Creek, Gilpin, and Park Counties) is provided by Windermere Real Estate Chief Economist Matthew Gardner. We hope that this information may assist you with making better-informed real estate decisions. For further information about the housing market in your area, please don’t hesitate to contact your Windermere agent.

ECONOMIC OVERVIEW

Colorado continues to see very strong job growth, adding 72,800 non-agricultural jobs over the past 12 months—an impressive increase of 2.7%. Through the first five months of 2018, the state added an average of 7,300 new jobs per month. I expect this growth to continue through the remainder of the year, resulting in about 80,000 new jobs in 2018.

In May, the state unemployment rate was 2.8%. This is slightly above the 2.6% we saw a year ago but still represents a remarkably low level. Unemployment remains either stable or is dropping in all the markets contained in this report, with the lowest reported rates in Fort Collins and Boulder, where just 2.2% of the labor force was actively looking for work. The highest unemployment rate was in Grand Junction, which came in at 3.1%.

HOME SALES ACTIVITY

In the second quarter of 2018, 17,769 homes sold—a drop of 2.4% compared to the second quarter of 2017.
Sales rose in 5 of the 11 counties contained in this report, with Gilpin County sales rising by an impressive 10.7% compared to second quarter of last year. There were also noticeable increases in Clear Creek and Weld Counties. Sales fell the most in Park County but, as this is a relatively small area, I see no great cause for concern at this time.
Slowing sales activity is to be expected given the low levels of available homes for sale in many of the counties contained in this report. That said, we did see some significant increases in listing activity in Denver and Larimer Counties. This should translate into increasing sales through the summer months.
The takeaway here is that sales growth is being hobbled by a general lack of homes for sale, and due to a drop in housing demand.

HOME PRICES

With strong economic growth and a persistent lack of inventory, prices continue to trend higher. The average home price in the region rose
9.8% year-over-year to $479,943.
The smallest price gains in the region were in Park County, though the increase there was still a respectable 7%.
Appreciation was strongest in Clear Creek and Gilpin Counties, where prices rose by 28.9% and 26%, respectively. All other counties in this report saw gains above the long-term average.
Although there was some growth in listings, the ongoing imbalance between supply and demand persists, driving home prices higher.

DAYS ON MARKET

The average number of days it took to sell a home remained at the same level as a year ago.
The length of time it took to sell a home dropped in most markets contained in this report. Gilpin County saw a very significant jump in days on market, but this can be attributed to the fact that it is a very small area which makes it prone to severe swings.
In the second quarter of 2018, it took an average of 24 days to sell a home. Of note is Adams County, where it took an average of only 10 days to sell a home.
Housing demand remains very strong and all the markets in this report continue to be in dire need of additional inventory to satisfy demand.

CONCLUSIONS

This speedometer reflects the state of the region’s real estate market using housing inventory, price gains, home sales, interest rates, and larger economic factors.

For the second quarter of 2018, I have moved the needle very slightly towards buyers as a few counties actually saw inventories rise. However, while I expect to see listings increase in the coming months, for now, the housing market continues to heavily favor sellers.

Matthew Gardner is the Chief Economist for Windermere Real Estate, specializing in residential market analysis, commercial/industrial market analysis, financial analysis, and land use and regional economics. He is the former Principal of Gardner Economics, and has more than 30 years of professional experience both in the U.S. and U.K.

Fort Collins Real Estate • Fort Collins Realtor • Fun Facts • Northern Colorado Real Estate • July 13, 2018

Average Home Prices in Northern Colorado

by Rondi duPont

Yesterday the Coloradoan ran a very good article about the increase of average home prices in Larimer County, which they stated has now reached $405,000.

We thought this article may make you curious to know what the average prices are in each specific city in Northern Colorado:

Fort Collins = $453,051
Loveland = $402,132
Windsor = $463,769
Greeley = $310,785
Timnath = $604,481
Wellington = $338,999
Boulder = $1,105,634

source = IRES

Contact me today to find out what your home would be valued at in today’s market!

Fort Collins Real Estate • Fort Collins Realtor • Fun Facts • Northern Colorado Real Estate • June 15, 2018

Double Up

by Rondi duPont

Fort Collins, over the last 12 months, has seen sales of homes priced $1,000,000 and over almost double.

There have been 47 sales of these luxury properties during the last year compared to 24 sales the year before that.

The current pace of roughly 4 of these properties selling per month is both unprecedented and very different compared to the other Northern Colorado markets.

Loveland, Greeley and Windsor have only seen very slight increases in sales of homes priced over $1,000,000.

So where are these homes selling in Fort Collins? These are the top neighborhoods for luxury sales:

Fossil Lake Ranch
Old Town
The Hill at Cobb Lake
Linden Lake

Blog • Fort Collins Real Estate • Fort Collins Realtor • Fun Facts • Northern Colorado Real Estate • May 25, 2018

Top 5

by Rondi duPont

Greeley is the 5th-ranked city in the whole country for one year appreciation. This is according to the Federal Housing Finance Authority’s most recent quarterly report. They track close to 300 markets all over the U.S.

For the first time in a long time, the Fort Collins/Loveland market did not make the top 20 list- they came in ranked 76th.

Greeley’s appreciation over the last year was 12.63% and Fort Collins/Loveland’s was 7.98%.

Who was first? Boise, Idaho with 15.25%.

Who was last? Peoria, Illinois whose prices fell 1.26%.

What about other Colorado cities?

Colorado Springs – 14th @ 11.65%
Grand Junction – 16th @ 11.47%
Denver – 28th @ 10.18%
Boulder – 68th @ 8.25%

Overall, prices in the U.S. increased by an average of 6.9%. A couple of interesting side notes- a minimum of 11% was required to make the top-20, and 18 of the top 20 are in the Western U.S.

Grab a copy of our Investment Kit so you can see the simple steps to get started without stress or complication. Email us at rdupont@windermere.com and I will send you a video which clarifies the process and our Investment Checklist so you can see what to do first.