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Foreclosed
Remember when the hot topics in real estate were short sales and foreclosures? Not today!
As an additional indicator of the health of our market, foreclosure activity is significantly lower than it was 7 to 8 years ago.
Today in Colorado only 1 in 3920 homes is in foreclosure. This is much lower than the current national number of 1 in every 2043 homes.
How about Northern Colorado? Both Larimer and Weld Counties are performing better than the National Average.
In Larimer County the number is 1 in 6695 and Weld County is 1 in 2849.
Bubbly?
Because our Northern Colorado market has been so active over the last four years, clients often ask us if we think there is a housing bubble forming.
There are several key statistics which we track closely in order to answer that question.
Here is one fact that we find to be insightful…
One of the root causes of the last housing bubble was the glut of inventory, and specifically new home inventory. Quite simply, the market was being oversupplied with new homes. The rules of economics say when there is oversupply, prices must come down.
Today, there are far fewer new home starts compared to 2004 and 2005 when the last bubble was forming – despite there being a larger population.
According to our friends at Metrostudy who track the new home market, Northern Colorado has had 4,452 new home starts in the last 12 months.
That number is only 60% of what it was at the height of construction in early 2005.
It is also interesting to note that over the last 12 months there have been 4,473 new home closings which shows that demand is keeping up with supply.
So when you drive around Northern Colorado and notice all the new homes being built, know that construction activity is far less than what is was during the bubble and that demand is keeping up with supply.
In case you missed our annual real estate Forecast event, you can reach out to me to see the presentation slides or receive a video recap of the information. Just email me at rdupont@windermere.com
Our Forecast
Last night was our annual Market Forecast event. Thank you to the 400 clients and friends who joined us at the Marriott.
Here are our predictions for where prices are going in 2018:
- Fort Collins 8%
- Loveland 7%
- Greeley 9%
Last year’s average price increases looked like this:
- Fort Collins 7%
- Loveland 8%
- Greeley 11%
Low inventory will persist in many parts of the market during 2018. But, like we mentioned last night, there are many parts of the market where the market is in balance or even over-supplied with homes. All markets are local!
Our Cheif Economist, Matthew Gardner, shared several of his insights including his prediction for interest rates one year from now which is 4.4% (about 0.5% higher than today).
For buyers thinking about waiting until the market cools off, there is a tangible cost to that wait. If prices and interest rates go up as we predict, a one-year wait would equal over $200 per month for a $400,000 home.
In case you missed the event, you can read more about it here in the Loveland Reporter-Herald. They did a great recap of our presentation. CLICK HERE
What It Means
The new tax bill is expected to be signed by the end of the year. Here is a summary of what it means for your real estate…
The new tax bill:
New Proposed Tax Bill
House Republicans released their proposed tax bill last Thursday. The proposal is a long way from becoming law, but the draft contains three noteworthy items related to housing.
As the law stands now, homeowners can claim as an itemized deduction interest paid on mortgages valued up to $1 million used to acquire or improve a first and/or second home. The plan maintains the current cap for existing homeowners, but cuts it to $500,000 for homes purchased in the future. (The bill would also limit the mortgage interest deduction to one principal home, ending any deductions for vacation homes.)
Another change is to the provision that allows homeowners to exclude from their taxable income up to $250,000 in capital gains ($500,000 for married taxpayers) from a sale of their primary residence. Under the plan, to qualify for this break, homeowners must have owned and lived in the home for at least five of the last eight years. Currently the rule is two of the last five. Taxpayer use of the exclusion would also be limited to one sale every five years, rather than one every two. In addition, under the house bill, you begin to lose the gains exemption if adjusted gross income (in a look-back period) exceeded $500,000 if married or $250,000 if single.
The third change is the proposal to cap the deduction for property tax on a home at $10,000. Currently all state and local taxes are deductible from ordinary income.
To see an update as to what is happening in the Northern Colorado market, contact me to receive our quarterly “Scoop” report.
Colorado Real Estate Market Update
ECONOMIC OVERVIEW
Colorado added 45,800 non-agricultural jobs over the past 12 months, a growth rate of 1.8%. Within the metropolitan market areas included in this report, annual employment growth was seen in all areas other than Grand Junction (where employment was stable) with substantial growth seen in Fort Collins (4.6%) and Greeley (3.5%).
In August, the unemployment rate in the state was 2.2%, down from 3.1% a year ago. The lowest reported unemployment rates were again seen in Fort Collins at just 1.8%. The highest rate was in Grand Junction, at a very respectable 3.0%. It is still reasonable to assume that all the markets contained within this report will see above-average wage growth given the very tight labor market.
HOME SALES ACTIVITY
- There were 17,140 home sales during the third quarter of 2017, which was a drop of 3.3% from the same period in 2016.
- Sales rose the fastest in Boulder County, which saw sales grow 4% more than the third quarter of 2016. There were marginal increases in Weld and Larimer Counties. Sales fell in all the other counties contained within this report.
- Home sales slowed due to very low levels of available inventory. Listing activity continues to trend at well below historic averages, with the total number of homes for sale in the third quarter 5.5% below the level seen a year ago.
- The takeaway here is that sales growth has stalled due to the lack of homes for sale.
HOME PRICES
- With substantial competition for the few available homes, prices continue to rise. Average prices were up 7.5% year-over-year to a regional average of $428,602.
- Slower appreciation in home values was again seen in Boulder County, but the trend is still positive.
- Appreciation was strongest in Weld County, which saw prices rise 12%.
- Due to an ongoing imbalance between supply and demand, home prices will continue to appreciate at above-average rates for the foreseeable future.
DAYS ON MARKET
- The average number of days it took to sell a home dropped by one day when compared to the third quarter of 2016.
- Homes in all counties contained in this report took less than a month to sell. Adams County continues to stand out as it took an average of just two weeks to sell a home there.
- During the third quarter, it took an average of 20 days to sell a home. This is up by 3 days compared to the second quarter of this year.
- Demand remains strong, and well-positioned, well-priced homes continue to sell very quickly.
CONCLUSIONS
This speedometer reflects the state of the region’s housing market using housing inventory, price gains, home sales, interest rates, and larger economic factors.
In the third quarter of 2017, I have chosen to leave the needle where it was in the second quarter. Homes are still scarce; however, there is a small slowdown in price growth and a decline in both closed and pending sales. This may suggest the market is either getting weary of all the competition or that would-be buyers are possibly putting off buying until they see more choices in the number of homes for sale.
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.
If you are in the market to buy or sell, let me know! I am happy to help!
Short vs Long
There are short-term questions about real estate and there are long term questions about real estate.
Clients often have short-term questions like…
How much will prices go up next year? Should I sell my house this Fall or next Spring? Will interest rates go up next week?
We encourage our clients to evaluate those questions in the context of the long-term. There are decades of data on the Northern Colorado market which reveal certain patterns.
When we show our clients these patterns they feel confident and secure in the investment they have made into their home and their rental properties.
For example, the long-term appreciation rates based on up to 41 years of research are as follows:
- Larimer County = 5.36%
- Weld County = 4.25%
- Metro Denver = 5.56%
So over the course of a year prices may go up a lot or go up a little, but in the long term they will stay true to these long term averages.
To see an update as to what is happening in the Northern Colorado market, contact me to receive our quarterly “Scoop” report.
Inventory is UP!
For the past few years the hot topic in Northern Colorado real estate is inventory, or more specifically, lack of inventory.
Price Per Square Foot
At some point this weekend it’s likely you will make a stop at the local grocery store. When you are there you might pick up some produce. That produce, as you know, is priced by the pound.
Homes, aren’t priced by the pound of course. But they are priced by the foot.
An interesting way to examine an entire real estate market or a specific home is to look at the price per square foot.
For example, right now our company has a 2,470 square foot home right on the water in Seattle listed at $4,995,000. That comes to $2,022 per square foot.
Meanwhile, we also have a 2,549 square foot home for sale in Timnath priced at $445,000 which is $175 per square foot.
Price per foot is driven by many factors the most important ones being location and finishes.
Here is the average price per foot for our main markets across Northern Colorado:
- Fort Collins = $181
- Loveland = $160
- Greeley = $126
- Windsor = $136
If you would like to know what your home is worth, per square foot, contact me and I will get that information into your hands right away.
Fall vs Spring
A question we start to hear from clients this time of year is “am I better off waiting until the Spring to sell my home?”
The perception is that Spring is the busy time for home sales and that a Seller would be better served waiting to sell their home.
The reality is the numbers show that your odds of selling your home in the fall (and even the Winter) are just as good as the Spring. The reason is that the competition from other sellers is much lower in the Fall and Winter.
Let’s see what the numbers say…
We did an analysis of the number of homes that sold last year in each month versus the homes for sale that month and then looked at the ratio. For example, if 500 homes were for sale and 250 of them sold, the ratio would be 50%.
Here are the ratios for certain months in our 3 major Northern Colorado markets:
Fort Collins
- March = 38%
- October = 38%
- December = 55%
Loveland
- March = 39%
- October = 43%
- December = 46%
Greeley
- March = 48%
- October = 49%
- December = 82%
So the numbers tell us that there is no advantage of waiting until the Spring.
Also, all of our clients who are listing their home now see the advantage of dealing with the “known” versus the “unknown” when it comes to interest rates, demand levels and other market factors.
If you would like to see the odds of selling in your particular neighborhood and your particular price range, contact me today.
