About the areaBuyer TipsFriday Fun FactsInvestmentReal Estate December 4, 2020

14 Times

For the 14th time this year, 30-year mortgage rates set a record and hit an all-time low.

Based on data just released by Freddie Mac, rates are now at 2.71%.  Their weekly survey of the 30-year mortgage rate dates back to 1971.

Just one year ago rates were at 3.68%.

So, what does this mean for buyers?

Based on a $400,000 loan, current rates result in a monthly payment that would be $212 less than one year ago.

 

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.

Buyer TipsFriday Fun FactsReal EstateSeller Tips November 20, 2020

Remodeling Impact

Americans spend $400 billion per year remodeling their homes.
So, which remodeling investment gives the best return when it comes to resale value?
It should come as no surprise, especially leading up to Thanksgiving, that the best money to spend upgrading your home is in the kitchen.
It’s the place where most homeowners spend most of their waking hours.
According the research from the National Association of Realtors, it’s where remodelers will see the biggest return on investment.
Here is the ranking of various projects in terms of the value it adds to the home:

1. Complete kitchen remodel
2. Kitchen upgrade
3. HVAC replacement
4. Owner’s suite renovation
5. Bathroom renovation
6. Finishing a basement
7. Adding a bathroom

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.

About the areaBuyer TipsFriday Fun FactsHomes for SaleReal Estate November 13, 2020

A Little Perspective

A Little Perspective

Here’s a little perspective on the inventory of homes for sale in today’s market…

First we’ll look at Metro Denver:

• The average number of residential listings for sale at this time of year is 15,577
• The highest-ever for this time of year is 29,722 which occurred in 2006
• The number of listings right now is 4,821
• So, inventory in Metro Denver is roughly one-third of the average and 25,000 fewer than the highest-ever.
• DMAR is the source of the stats listed above

Now, Northern Colorado:
• Larimer County has 802 active listings today
• Based on 10 years of data, this is the lowest it has ever been
• The high in Larimer County occurred in 2010 with 2608 listings so today’s inventory is one-third of what it was 10 years ago.
• Inventory today in Weld County is 727 which isn’t the lowest-ever.
• The lowest during the last 10 years was 2017.
• The highest was 2010 with 1791 properties so today there are roughly 1,000 fewer properties to choose from.

BlogFriday Fun FactsHomes for SalePremier PropertyReal Estate October 16, 2020

Million Plussing

The luxury market is very active right now.  Buyers in the high-end are taking advantage of low interest rates and the equity they have built in their prior homes.

Closings of million-plus single family homes are up significantly along the  Front Range.

When compared to this same time last year, sales of properties in this price range are up:

87% in Metro Denver

150% in Larimer County

67% in Weld County

Windermere Real Estate in Colorado recently hosted a private online event for our clients with our very own Chief Economist Matthew Gardner.  We would be happy to send you the recording if you would like.

About the areaBlogBuyer TipsFriday Fun FactsHomes for SaleReal EstateSeller Tips October 9, 2020

Re Bubble

The activity in the Front Range market is causing us to hear the bubble question again.

People are curious to know, based on recent growth in price appreciation, if we are in a housing bubble.

This questions seems to crop up when prices go up.

While we do not believe that the current double-digit price appreciation is sustainable, we firmly believe we will not see prices crash or see any kind of a bubble bursting.

Here’s why we think that…

This past Tuesday we hosted a private online event for our clients which featured our Chief Economist Matthew Gardner.

Matthew is well-known and well-respected in the industry.  He is often quoted in leading real estate publications.

He sees four reasons why there is no real estate bubble that is about to pop in Colorado.

  1. Inventory is (incredibly) low. The number of homes for sale is down over 40% compared to last year. The market is drastically under-supplied.  Based on simple economic principles of supply and demand, inventory would need to grow significantly for prices to drop.
  2. Buyers’ credit scores are very high. The average credit score for buyers last month, for example was 759. So, by definition, average buyers today have excellent credit which means there is low risk of them walking away from their mortgage and causing a foreclosure crisis.
  3. Buyers have high down payments. On average, buyers are putting 18% down on their purchases. This means that prices would need to fall by a considerable amount in order for the average buyer to be ‘upside down’ on their mortgage.
  4. Owners are equity rich. Well over a third of property owners along the Front Range have more than 50% equity in their homes. This means that a severe economic downturn causing a slew of distressed properties to hit the market is highly unlikely.

Bottom line, as Matthew Gardner reminded us, what we are experiencing in the economy today is a health crisis not a housing crisis.

If you would like a recording of the private webinar, we would be happy to send it to you.  Just reach out and let us know.

Fort Collins Real EstateFriday Fun FactsHomes for SaleReal Estate September 25, 2020

6 Million

The National real estate market just hit a massive milestone.

Based on the numbers through August, we are now on pace to sell 6 million homes.  This is the highest pace we have seen in 14 years.

The 6 million threshold is a big deal in the real estate brokerage world.

Each month, as they have for a long time, the National Association of Realtors tracks the sales and then calculates the annualized rate of residential closings.

For many, many years this number has bounced around 5.5 million.  The fact that it just jumped to 6 million speaks to many factors especially the effect of today’s interest rates.

Friday Fun FactsHomes for SaleReal EstateSeller Tips August 28, 2020

Price Report

The Federal Housing Finance Authority just released their most recent quarterly report which tracks home price appreciation in the top 100 metropolitan areas in the U.S. plus appreciation in individual states.

Some significant findings from the report:

House prices have risen for 36 consecutive quarters, or since September 2011.

House prices rose in all 50 states and the District of Columbia between the second quarters of 2019 and 2020.

The top five areas for annual appreciation were:

1) Idaho 10.8%

2) Arizona 9.1%

3) Washington 8.6%

4) Utah 8.1%

5) New Mexico 7.7%.

Idaho has been the leading state for the last 7 quarters.

Colorado showed annual appreciation of 4.4%.

The areas showing the lowest annual appreciation were:

1) West Virginia 1.1%

2) North Dakota 1.1%

3) District of Columbia 1.4%

4) Illinois 2.5%

5) Alaska 2.6%.

House prices rose in 99 of the top 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. over the last four quarters.

Annual price increases were greatest in Honolulu, HI, where prices increased by 11.7%.

Prices were weakest in San Francisco, where they decreased by 0.3%.

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.

 

About the areaBuyer TipsFriday Fun FactsHomes for SaleReal EstateSeller Tips July 31, 2020

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 up:

12.6% in Metro Denver

13.7% in Northern Colorado

To see double-digit increases in sales despite was is occurring in the National economy, is nothing short of remarkable.

Buyer TipsFriday Fun FactsHomes for SaleReal EstateSeller Tips July 24, 2020

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%.

The same goes for first-time prospective buyers, where 58% considered buying a home in the second quarter of 2019 and 59% are considering it in 2020’s second quarter.

In the second quarter of 2020, Millennials are the generation most likely to want to buy a home (19%), even slightly higher than a year earlier (17%).

Boomers, on the other hand, are the least likely, with the share planning a home purchase falling from 7% to 5%.

Across regions, the share of respondents who are prospective home buyers is unchanged in the Northeast (10%) and South (12%), essentially flat in the West (13%), and just slightly lower in the Midwest (down from 11% to 9%).

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.

About the areaBlogFriday Fun FactsInvestmentReal Estate July 17, 2020

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 required.

The population of Metro Denver is just under 3,000,000 and the population of Northern Colorado is just over 650,000.

Assuming the Front Range grows in population at 2% per year, that means 60,000 new people in Metro Denver and 13,000 new people in Northern Colorado each year.

To house those people, 24,000 new housing units need to be built per year in Metro Denver and 5,200 in Northern Colorado.

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.