Real Estate

About the area Start it UP! Start it Up As further evidence that the housing market is more than alive and well, new home starts have recently jumped across the U.S. Building of residential properties is up 23.4% compared to last year and up 22.6% from last month. Pre-pandemic demand for new homes was very high. Now, record-low interest rates are […]
Buyer Tips At Least List Periodically we track a stat which we find to be quite interesting. It answers this question – how many properties are selling for at least list price (asking price or higher)? This stat tells us how active the market is and helps our buyers to realize that, in some cases, they will be in a […]
About the area Rebound The Case-Shiller Home Price Index tracks appreciation in the 20 largest real estate markets across the U.S. Their most recent quarterly report was just released this week. Metro Denver prices are up over last year by 3.89% which is just slightly higher than the average of the 20 markets. It is interesting to see how […]
About the area Spring in Summer This year the Spring market is occurring in the Summer. Typically the busiest months for real estate along the Front Range are April, May and June. This year, because showing activity was restricted in the Spring months, we are seeing robust activity this Summer. Here’s an indicator.  Sales through July 2020 versus July 2019 are […]
Buyer Tips Buyer Contemplation New research from the National Association of Home Builders: The number of Americans contemplating purchasing a home in the second quarter of 2020 is nearly the same as 2019’s second quarter, according to NAHB’s Housing Trends Report. At this time last year, 12% of Americans considered buying a home. Today the number stands at 11%. […]
About the area Housing Math It’s interesting to look at what population growth means for housing. On average, along the Front Range, 2.5 people live in each housing unit. What that means is 4 housing units are needed for every 10 people who live here. So, for every 1000 new people moving to our area, 400 new housing units are […]
About the area Caught Up 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 […]
About the area Rate Meaning 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 […]
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Buyer Tips Tight Inventory 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% […]
Buyer Tips On Sale 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 […]
Buyer Tips Faster   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 […]
Buyer Tips Pent Up Demand We notice a very interesting dynamic in the market right now. There was clearly a pent-up real estate demand created during the recent time when in-person showings were not allowed. The numbers back it up. First, a little background. During a portion of “Shelter in Place,” all in-person viewing of properties ceased. Instead, buyers spent […]
Buyer Tips What the Numbers Say April represents the first time we can look at the impact of COVID-19 on a full month of real estate activity. To no one’s surprise, activity in April in terms of closings and new contracts did slow significantly. Much of this slowing was caused by in person showings not being allowed for most of the […]
Buyer Tips Another Meltdown? This week our Chief Economist took a deep dive into the numbers to examine the current health crisis versus the housing crisis of 2008. The reason why? People wonder if we are going to have another housing meltdown nationally and going to see foreclosures and short sales dramatically increase. It turns out that the numbers […]
Friday Fun Facts Why No Crash This week we hosted our clients and friends for a special online event with our Chief Economist Matthew Gardner. Matthew talked about a variety of topics that are on people’s mind right now including home values. Matthew sees no evidence that home values will crash and actually sees signs that they may rise this year […]
About the area Special Event On Wednesday April 22nd you are invited to a special online event with Windermere’s Chief Economist Matthew Gardner. He will be giving his insights into the U.S. economy and what that means for real estate along the Front Range of Colorado. You will hear the answers to the biggest questions we are hearing from clients […]
Buyer Tips Inventory Drop Inventory Drop An impact we expected from COVID-19 to the housing market is reduced inventory.  That prediction is certainly proving to be true. In March, the number of withdrawn properties from the MLS went up 68% in Larimer County and 38% in Weld when compared to March 2019. Reduced inventory is one reason why we […]
Buyer Tips Leading Indicator We are watching close to see where the real estate market is headed. Anecdotally we can tell you that the vast majority of transactions that are under contract are still closing. We have seen very few transactions cancel because of employment issues or the wild swings of the stock market. An interesting leading indicator was […]
Buyer Tips Economist’s Perspective Our Chief Economist made a video for all of our clients where he shares his perspective on COVID-19’s impact on housing.  You can watch it by clicking the image below:    
Buyer Tips Headwind Vs. Tailwind Headwind vs. Tailwind So far the tailwind of historically-low mortgage rates are prevailing over Wall Street and COVID-19 concerns. Buyers are still active. Properties are still closing. Moving trucks are still showing up at people’s homes. Open house traffic has declined, but we notice plenty of buyers looking for property. (one of our open houses […]