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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 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.
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 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.
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 time online viewing virtual tours and 3-D photography.
Even though clients could view homes virtually, purchase activity did slow down.
Today, showings are allowed again as long as clear protocols are followed. We’ve implemented a Safe Showings program to keep our clients protected.
Now, to the numbers.
Through the first two weeks of May 2020, the number of closed properties is down compared to the same time period in 2019.
In most cases these closed properties are a result of purchase agreements that were written in April- a time when in-person showings were restricted.
So, a decrease in closings was expected.
However, the number of new written contracts so far this month is up considerably compared to the same time frame last year.
Specifically,
• Metro Denver closed properties down 47%
• Metro Denver new contracts up 6%
• Northern Colorado closed properties down 41%
• Northern Colorado new contracts up 19%
So, buyer activity is up compared to last year, even in our current environment.
This speaks to the resiliency of our market and the effect of low interest rates.
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
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 nationally.
Here’s why he says this:
• Mortgage rates will remain under 3.5% for the rest of the year so there won’t be any interest-rate pressure on prices
• Inventory, which was already at record-lows, will drop even further keeping the supply levels far below normal
• New home construction will continue to be under-supplied and will be nothing like the over-supplied glut of inventory that we saw in 2008
• The vast majority of employees being laid off and furloughed are renters
• Home owners have a tremendous amount of equity in their homes right now compared to 2008 which will prevent an influx of short sales and foreclosures
If you would like to receive a recording of the webinar we would be happy to send it to you. Feel free to reach out and ask for the link.
Inventory Drop
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New NOCO Golf Course!
I hope you all had a great weekend, and enjoyed the amazing Northern Colorado weather. I got to show properties to a friend of mine, and thanks to Chad Parron I got to take a tour of the new TPC Colorado golf course in Berthoud. It is going to be an amazing PGA Tour course. TPC has experience in these PGA courses, so it’s great news for us!
It won’t be open until next year, but there will be high end homes in a community that will be called Heron Lakes that will sit on the course with beautiful views of the rockies. Check out the picture below taken from where one of the fairways will sit! If you have questions about the homes feel free to give me a call, or you can check out their website here.
Friday Fun Facts!
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2017 Windermere Forecast
Even In November-The Market Is Still Moving!
Now that we have finished with the election turmoil, we’ll start to see what the results will mean for the housing market. If you’d like to see Windermere’s Economists point of view on the matter, check out this link.
We are still seeing signs of low inventory and a quick moving market, and even some antidotal evidence that the $500,000 to $750,000 segment of the market is starting to see more showings and activity than we saw in August through October. The average price in Fort Collins year to date is up 10.4% to $395,913, almost $400,000 average price. We are also at 1.8 months of supply (remember the National Association of REALTORS says a balanced market is 6 months), and that is a 28% drop since last year at this same time. This means we have even LESS homes to satisfy the market.
While interest rates have started to climb a little since the election, we are still historically low for interest rates so if you need or want to buy then now is a great time! And as a seller, as we’ve seen with the data I’ve presented above, if you want to sell your home give me a call and we can talk about how the Windermere Certified Listing program can help get your home sold quickly!
If you have any questions about this data, please feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving week!
Real Estate-Stay On Your Toes
Buyers and Sellers, there are opportunities for both parties in this northern Colorado real estate market. The only caveat to that statement is that we need to be ready for whatever comes our way and be able to move quickly. On the Buyer side, that means being proactive about seeing homes that come on the market and having me use tactics to try and find homes that have not hit the MLS yet. For Sellers that means being ready to knowledgably review multiple offers on your listing, and choose the one that gets you not only the most money, but has the best chance of closing (not always the same thing).
I would love to talk with you in more detail about the real estate market opportunities in northern Colorado, so feel free to give me a call, I'll take you to coffee!
