Friday Fun Facts!

by Paul Hunter

The Office

As you travel around the Front Range you will notice the following under construction:

New Homes
New Apartments
New Medical Facilities

However, you will not notice new office buildings under construction.

What gives? I thought we had a booming economy. Why no new office buildings?

There are a couple of reasons. First, construction costs have sky rocketed. In ten years, construction costs have gone from about $200 per square foot to over $300 per square foot.

Rental rates have not increased at the same pace as construction costs so speculative investors can’t make their numbers work.

It’s too expensive to build compared to the rents that can be charged.

One reason why rental rates haven’t increased at high rate is property taxes. Property taxes on Class A office buildings have basically doubled in the last 10 years in many cases.

So, until rental rates catch up with construction costs, we won’t see many new office buildings under construction.

If you would like to see a short video with a recap of our annual Market Forecast presentation, click the image below.

About the area • Buyer Tips • Fort Collins Real Estate • Investment • Loveland Real Estate • Real Estate • Seller Tips • Wellington Real Estate • Windsor Real Estate • July 17, 2017

Where Is The Market Right Now?

by Paul Hunter

As we hit the middle of the year, it is good to look not only back at where the market has been, but forward to where the market is going. There are several interesting factors at the moment that make this a slightly different market than it was 5 months ago, but the big things to keep an eye on for both Buyers and Sellers are:

Interest Rates
Housing Starts (new construction)
Days on Market
Inventory

Interest Rates remain low for the time being, and this is an opportunity for both Buyers and Sellers. Low interest rates make payments more affordable for Buyers, but also make it so that Buyers qualify for more home for their buck making it easier for Sellers to realize higher sales prices. As we start to see interest rates increase towards the end of this year and heading in to next year, this opportunity will slow down for EVERYONE in the market.

Housing Starts are actually down in Colorado right now (even thought it seems new construction is everywhere!), which means we most likely will continue to see a shortage of new homes, driving more Buyers to the resale market keeping that inventory tight. As construction defects legislation allows builders to build condos and townhomes though, hopefully we will see more of those start to come down the pipeline. We’ll keep an eye on that for you.

As you can see below (information from the Fort Collins Board of REALTORS), for the Fort Collins area Days on Market has decreased by 8.7% for single family homes, indicating Buyers are still out there wanting homes!

You can also see that we are seeing increasing inventory though, but 13.3% which means there is a little bit more for Buyers to look at, good news to those who have been making offers and losing out.

So opportunities exist for both Buyers and Sellers in this market, and there are pockets that have more strength for one party or another. If you are interested in learning more about the market you may be interested in buying in or have a home to sell and want to see what that looks like for your particular area, please give me a call or shoot me an email. Thank You!