The market is in short supply.

More homes are needed to fulfill the need to buyer demand.

Compared to exactly one year ago, the supply of homes is down:

• 32.6% in Metro Denver
• 25.1% in Northern Colorado

An interesting and useful measurement we track is months of inventory. This stat tells how long it would take to sell all of the homes currently for sale at the current pace of sales.

Of course, months of supply can vary greatly by price range and location. However, this stat does a good job of explaining the overall state of the market.

Specifically, months of supply tells us if the market is in balance.

A ‘balanced’ market is when there is 4 to 6 months of supply. A buyers market occurs when the stat is higher than this range. A sellers market occurs when it is lower.

The months of supply looks like this in our market:

• 1.0 months in Metro Denver
• 1.3 months in Northern Colorado

So, the market overall is significantly under-supplied and more homes are needed to meet demand.

At Windermere Real Estate we are taking Safer at Home and Social Distancing very seriously. Our people are following our Safe Showings protocol, staying connected to their clients, and providing help wherever needed.

Pop quiz…

Which state has the lowest effective property tax rates?

It’s not Colorado. But, if you guessed Colorado you’re close!

Hawaii has the lowest effective rate at .27%.

Colorado is ranked 3rd at .53%.

New Jersey is the highest at 2.47%

So, Colorado’s property tax rate is one fifth of New Jersey.

It’s also one third of Michigan and Ohio, and one half of Oregon and Washington.

The out of state clients we work with are usually pleasantly surprised that our local property tax rates are so much lower compared to where they are moving from.

It’s another benefit of owning real estate here.

At Windermere Real Estate we are taking Safer at Home and Social Distancing very seriously. Our people are following our Safe Showings protocol, staying connected to their clients, and providing help wherever needed.

We’ve been waiting for June to catch up. It finally happened (almost).

Back in April, real estate activity was significantly limited and the showing of property was restricted which caused the number of closed properties in May and early June to be much lower than last year.

Bottom line, fewer properties going under contract in April caused fewer closings 30 to 45 days later.

Closed properties in May were down compared to 2019 by 44% in Northern Colorado and 43% in Metro Denver.

Then activity jumped significantly in May. The number of properties going under contract was way up compared to last year.

We’ve been wondering when we would see this sales activity reflected in the number of closed properties.

Well, it finally happened (almost).

The number of closings so far in June compared to the same time period through June of 2019 is only down 1.8% in Northern Colorado and 1.6% in Metro Denver.

In both markets, there are only a handful of closings separating activity in June 2020 versus June 2019.

By the end of the month, when all the transactions are tallied up, we expect that June of this year will out pace June of last year in terms of number of transactions.

This is significant not only because of COVID-19, but also because of the reduced inventory compared to last year. Quite simply, there are fewer homes to buy.
All of this speaks to the health and resiliency of the Front Range market.

At Windermere Real Estate we are taking Safer at Home and Social Distancing very seriously. Our people are following our Safe Showings protocol, staying connected to their clients, and providing help wherever needed.

Mortgage interest rates have hit another record low this week.

Mortgage applications for purchases just hit an 11-year high.

Rates are at a level that many people could never have imagined.

Here’s something that is surprising to many people…

Rates are 1.5% lower than they were just two years ago.

Here’s what that means for buyers…

Pretend someone is looking at a $500,000 home and they will have a 20% down payment.

The difference in monthly payment is $320 between two years ago and today.

Obviously that is a significant amount of money.

Imagine what a person could do with $320 per month.

The fact that rates are at record lows is one of many reasons that the market is so strong right now and prices continue to appreciate at healthy levels.

The numbers that we find to be most interesting right now are all related to inventory.

Long story short, inventory is tight.

It was already tight pre-coronavirus and now it’s even tighter.

Here are the numbers.

Active properties for sale versus one year ago are down:
11% in Larimer County
20% in Weld County
26% in Metro Denver

This low inventory is one of several reasons that prices are generally still up across the Front Range.
At Windermere Real Estate we are taking Safer at Home and Social Distancing very seriously. Our people are following our Safe Showings protocol, staying connected to their clients, and providing help wherever needed.

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It seems that COVID-19 did not cause prices to decrease and certainly didn’t cause them to crash.

Average prices are up compared to last year:
2.8% in Larimer County
5.4% in Weld County
3.3% in Metro Denver

Low supply, sustained demand, and incredibly low interest rates are all fueling the price growth.
At Windermere Real Estate we are taking Safer at Home and Social Distancing very seriously. Our people are following our Safe Showings protocol, staying connected to their clients, and providing help wherever needed.

On Sale

Money is on sale (again).

30-year mortgage rates now sit at 3.3%.

This is less than half of the long-term, 40-year average.

This is also almost a full percentage point lower than they were one year ago (which was still very low).

Let’s put this in real numbers.

A $300,000 loan at today’s rates has a $1,313 monthly principal and interest payment.

One year ago, that same loan would be $1,432 per month.

That’s a 8.3% difference in monthly payment.

The fact that money is on sale is one of many reasons that the housing market remains very strong right now.
At Windermere Real Estate we are taking Safer at Home and Social Distancing very seriously. Our people are following our Safe Showings protocol, staying connected to their clients, and providing help wherever needed.

Here’s something true about today’s market. Properties are selling fast.

Compared to one year ago, the number of days it takes for a property to sell is significantly lower.

The industry term is “Days on Market” or DOM.

DOM is way down.

Here is the comparison of May 2020 versus May 2019:

• Metro Denver down 22%
• Larimer County down 19%
• Weld County down 16%

Initially, this may seem counter-intuitive. How could homes be selling faster in today’s environment?

Here’s the deal. The buyers and sellers who are active in today’s market are serious.

There really aren’t ‘tire-kicker’ buyers out looking at properties just for the fun of it.

There really aren’t sellers testing the market to ‘see what they can get.’

For the most part, buyers and sellers are on a specific mission and this mindset is showing up in the numbers.

For sellers especially, this is no time to test the market and be overly aggressive on price.

Properties that are priced right and in good condition are selling and often selling fast.

At Windermere Real Estate we are taking Safer at Home and Social Distancing very seriously. Our people are following our Safe Showings protocol, staying connected to their clients, and providing help wherever needed.

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