Average Home Prices in Northern Colorado
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!
Top 5
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.
66% Off
This just in…
For the month of April, the average price of a home in the city of Boulder was $1,247,000. This is according to the latest from our IRES MLS system.
If you want to own a home about an hour down the road in another really nice college town and get a 66% discount, you may want to check out Fort Collins 🙂
Yes, despite the recent uptick in prices here locally, we are still a bargain compared to Boulder. Here are median single-family prices for our markets and their relative price to Boulder:
- Fort Collins = $414,237 (66.8% off)
- Loveland = $360,150 (71.1% off)
- Greeley = $290,000 (76.7% off)
- Windsor = $306,450 (75.4% off)
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.
April Showers
To see an update as to what is happening in the Northern Colorado market, contact me to receive our quarterly “Scoop” report.
The Gardner Report
The following analysis of the Metro Denver & Northern Colorado real estate market 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 me.
ECONOMIC OVERVIEW
It’s good news for the state of Colorado, which saw annual employment grow in all of the metropolitan markets included in this report. The state added 63,400 non-agricultural jobs over the past 12 months, an impressive growth rate of 2.4%. Colorado has been adding an average of 5,300 new jobs per month for the past year, and I anticipate that this growth rate will continue through the balance of 2018.
In February, the unemployment rate in Colorado was 3.0%—a level that has held steady for the past six months. Unemployment has dropped in all the markets contained in this report, with the lowest reported rates in Fort Collins and Denver, where 3.1% of the labor force was actively looking for work. The highest unemployment rate was in Grand Junction, which came in at 4.6%.
HOME SALES ACTIVITY
- In the first quarter of 2018, there were 11,173 home sales—a drop of 5.6% when compared to the first quarter of 2017.
- With an increase of 5.3%, home sales rose the fastest in Boulder County, as compared to first quarter of last year. There was also a modest sales increase of 1.2% in Larimer County. Sales fell in all the other counties contained within this report.
- Home sales continue to slow due to low inventory levels, which were down 5.7% compared to a year ago.
- The takeaway here is that sales growth continues to stagnate due to the lack of homes for sale.
HOME PRICES
- Strong economic growth, combined with limited inventory, continued to push prices higher. The average home price in the markets covered by this report was up by 11.7% year-over-year to $448,687.
- Arapahoe County saw slower appreciation in home values, but the trend is still positiveand above its long-term average.
- Appreciation was strongest in Boulder County, which saw prices rise 14.8%. Almost all other counties in this report experienced solid gains.
- The ongoing imbalance between supply and demand persists and home prices continue to appreciate at above-average rates.
DAYS ON MARKET
- The average number of days it took to sell a home dropped by three days when compared to the first quarter of 2017.
- Homes in all but two counties contained in this report took less than a month to sell. Adams County continues to stand out where it took an average of just 17 days to sell a home.
- During the first quarter, it took an average of 27 days to sell a home. That rate is down 2 days from the fourth quarter of 2017.
- Housing demand remains strong and would-be buyers should expect to see stiff competition for well-positioned, well-priced homes.
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 first quarter of 2018, I have left the needle where it was in the fourth quarter of last year. Even as interest rates trend higher, it appears as if demand will continue to outweigh supply. As we head into the spring months, I had hoped to see an increase in the number of homes for sale, but so far that has not happened. As a result, 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.
Under $300,000
If a real estate buyer walks into one of our offices in Northern Colorado and tells us they are looking for a single-family home under $300,000, unfortunately there will not be many properties to choose from. Depending on where they are looking the choices may be very limited.
Here is a list of the number of single-family homes currently for sale (excluding manufactured homes) in Northern Colorado:
- Fort Collins = 0
- Loveland = 7
- Windsor = 0
- Wellington = 0
- Timnath = 0
- Greeley = 27
- Evans = 8
- Milliken = 2
If our active market has you thinking about investing in real estate in Northern Colorado. Check this out…
Grab a copy of our Investment Kit so you can see the simple steps to get started without stress or complication. Email me 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.
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.
Get Real
A story ran this week which highlighted the number of people who have moved out of Colorado.
Let’s get real, there are still a large number of people moving to Colorado.
In fact, 223,000 moved to Colorado from another state last year according to the latest American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The net migration into our state (after subtracting out people who left) was 30,859 people.
In Northern Colorado the net migration looks like this:
- Larimer County = 7,001 people
- Weld County = 7,117 people
So what does that mean for housing? Knowing that, on average, 2.5 people live in each household, the number of new housing units required for these new residents looks like this:
- Larimer County = 2,800 new housing units
- Weld County = 2,847 new housing units
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.