February 2013 Denver Real Estate Quick Stats

February 2013  Quick Stats

Denver Metro Single Family Housing Stats:

Active Listings: 8,834

* Down 30% from Jan. '12

Under Contracts: 3,535

* Up 24% from Jan. '12

Solds: 2,343

* Up 17% from Jan. '12

Average Price: $301,827

* Up 11% from Jan. '12

Average Days on Market: 80

* Down 22% from Jan. '12

Denver Metro Condo Housing Stats:

Active Listings: 1,260

* Down 40% from Jan. '12

Under Contracts: 896

* Up 38% from Jan. '12

Solds: 610

* Up 28% from Jan. '12

Average Price: $170,769

* Up 17% from Jan. '12

Average Days on Market: 70

* Down 35% from Jan. '12

Real Estate News – The Blistering Hot Seller's Market

What a difference a year makes! Just 12 months ago our real estate market had started its recovery but was moving forward at a snail’s pace. Inventory was down from its peak but no one was certain whether the recovery would fully take hold or the market would remain flat for a long period of time.

Fast forward to today and everything has changed. We are entering our 11^th straight month of record-low inventory (homes for sale) and the market is surging upward in a fashion we haven’t seen in metro Denver for many years.

I’m frequently asked where the market is headed and when we will get back to some kind of equilibrium. The truth is it’s extremely difficult to predict the future but here’s what I do know. Right now we are experiencing the strongest seller’s market since at least the high points of the 1990’s, and perhaps of all time. The reason is simple: we have much more demand for homes (buyers) than we have supply of homes (sellers). What’s fascinating to watch is the dynamic build on itself. It looks something like this:

1. Buyers make offers on homes and continue to lose out to higher offers.
2. Buyers get increasingly frustrated and begin to get more aggressive with their offers.
3. The momentum builds on itself until we see what is occurring today, with multiple offers on a property the norm rather than the exception.
4. The multiple offer dynamic almost always bids prices higher than the original asking price.
5. The buyers that lost the bid learn from the experience and become more aggressive on their next offer.
6. Then back to Step 1, until the buyer bids high enough on a property to finally get an offer accepted.

 The result of course is the tremendously strong seller’s market we are experiencing today. And this seller’s market is going to last for a while, at least until we get back to some kind of balance in the market. I don’t see that happening for at least a year, perhaps several years.

In the meantime, if you’ve thought about selling your home, now might be a great time to find out what the market is like in your neighborhood and see what your home is worth. It’s almost certainly worth more than it was just a few years ago. Drop me a line and I’ll put together a professional Competitive Market Analysis on your home so you have the data to make the right decision..

Buyers – How to Be a Great Buyer in the Market

The theme of this Newsletter is the remarkable seller’s market we’re currently experiencing. So where does that leave you, the buyer? Actually, it leaves you in a pretty good position if you understand what you need to do as a buyer. If you react to the market appropriately and follow a few simple rules you’ll be able to buy the house of your dreams at the low interest rates that still exist today. And the great news is that since the seller’s market is driving prices higher, once you buy your home you stand a great chance of building equity with home appreciation.

Here’s how to be a great buyer in today’s environment:

1. Understand the real estate market. I can help you understand where the market is and how you should respond to it. It is critical that you understand the data in order to make appropriate offers.
2. Write clean offers. There are infinite nuances in the Colorado Contract to Buy. The better you understand what to put into a contract and what to leave out the more likely you are to get your offer accepted.
3. Get a great prequalification letter from your lender. When a seller gets a number of offers, one of the differentiators will be who looks most qualified to purchase the property. Working with a reputable lender and having a rock solid prequal letter will help your chances a lot.

 These are just a few of the ways I work with my buyers to help them get their offers accepted. Give me a call and I’ll be happy to teach you more about how to be a great buyer. 

Sellers – Time to Trade Up?

Homeowners today understand what a strong seller’s market it is and are taking advantage of the market. But when they sell their home they need to move somewhere else and their logical question is ‘won’t I then experience the market in reverse as a buyer?’. The answer is usually yes, but there’s one big caveat most sellers don’t take into consideration – today’s extremely low interest rates. As a rule, a .25% decrease in the interest rate increases buying power by about $10,000. This means a 1% decrease in the interest rate increases buying power by $40,000 and a 2% decrease increases buying power by $80,000! Many of my sellers bought their homes years ago when rates were much higher. If they have an existing 5.5% interest rate on the home they’re selling, that means they could sell their home and buy another home that costs $60,000 more and have about the same monthly payment! As incredible as this sounds it’s true and we have clients doing exactly this. Feel free to give me a call so I can walk through this with you and see how you can take advantage of the low interest rates. 

Investors – High Quality Residences Have Great Returns!

A lot of investors think that investing in rental properties only works in low-end neighborhoods with beat-up houses and scary tenants. Nothing could be further from the truth! Your Castle has done a great deal of research lately and found that buying and holding properties in quality locations like The Spire can yield tremendous returns down the road. Using very realistic numbers, a two bedroom condo in The Spire has a CAP Rate of 6.1%. An investor in a combined marginal tax bracket of 40% can yield an average annual return of 16%. Try making that in your savings account! As long as interest rates stay absurdly low (which cannot last forever), high quality buildings will generate enough rent to cover most/all of their direct costs. You can get twice the return at a quality location like The Spire or other similar high-end residence than you can with the stock market. Your Castle is going to begin a series of classes to describe the opportunities and walk through the numbers so let me know if you’d like to learn more

Title Spotlight - What to Do when you can't attend the Closing: Proper Use of Powers of Attorney and Resolutions to Appoint a Signer

Mortgages – Rates Are Ticking Up

If you have been watching the news lately I’m sure you have seen that the stock market is hitting record highs. The problem is this tends to push mortgage interest rates higher. The rate for a 30-year fixed-rate loan has increased each week for seven of the last eight weeks.  Gone are the days of the 3.5% fixed-rate, but 3.875% is still available and that is still VERY low!  However if the stock market and the economy continue to improve we may see rates go back above 4%. 

As we discussed earlier, for the average homeowner an increase of .25% in interest rate can equate to a loss of as much as $10,000 in buying power.  For example if you qualified for a $200K loan at a rate of 3.75% and then your rate increases to 4.0% you may now only qualify for a $190K loan. 

What does this mean for you?  It is still a great time to buy but we may see increased rates in the future. And increased rates mean decreased buying power so you may not be able to buy as much house in the future as you can get today. .

  

For more information contact Lorena Tankersley at Your Castle Real Estate,LLC atLorena@yourcastle.org or call 303-981-6539. If you want information specific to your neighborhood, please let me know. www.Lorena.Yourcastle.org

July 2012 Denver Real Estate

July Quick Stats

Denver Metro Single Family Housing Stats:

Active Listings: 9,087

*  Down 35% from July ‘11

Under Contracts: 4,181
*  Up 23% from July ‘11

Solds: 3,713

*  Up 20% from July ‘11

Average Price: $312,920

*  Up 5% from July ‘11

Average Days on Market: 64

*  Down 35% from July ‘11
 

Denver Metro Condo Housing Stats:

Active Listings: 1,740

*  Down 51% from July ‘11

Under Contracts: 1,055

*  Up 22% from July ‘11

Solds: 905

*  Up 20% from July ‘11

Average Price: $190,269

*  Up 24% from July ‘11

Average Days on Market: 69

*  Down 37% from July ‘11
 

Real Estate News – Historically Low Interest Rates!

As we discussed a few months ago the Home Affordability Index (HAI) is at its highest recording ever in the metro Denver area. Just like it sounds, the HAI is a measure of how affordable homes are in a given location. It’s calculated by comparing the median price of a home in the Metro Denver market to the median worker’s income level, taking into account the current interest rate for a 30-year fixed rate loan. What this means is that the median income earner can buy more house today than ever before. Why? Because home prices, while rising quickly, are still well below their peak prices of 5-6 years ago and interest rates are at never-before-seen historic lows. It’s interest rates that continue to make homes so wonderfully affordable, so let’s dig into this a bit.

 

The typical rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage tumbled below 3.5% for the first time last week, the latest record low in a trend that has fired up homes sales around the country. Freddie Mac's weekly survey of what lenders are offering to qualified borrowers showed the 30-year rate at an average of 3.49%, down from 3.53% the week before. The 15-year fixed loan fell from 2.83% to an almost unbelievable 2.8%! Let’s put this in perspective. In late July 2010 and 2011 the typical 30-year rate in the Freddie Mac survey was just over 4.5%, more than a percentage point higher than now. The 30-year rate was above 6% in 2006 and most of 2007, over 8% back in 2000, and over 10% in 1990. Back in the bad old days of inflation, the rate topped 18% in 1981. Look at how the interest payments affect your monthly Principle and Interest payments:

$200,000 property in 1981 at 18% interest: $3,014

$200,000 property in 1990 at 10% interest: $1,755

$200,000 property in 2000 at 8% interest: $1,467

$200,000 property in 2007 at 6.5% interest: $1,264

$200,000 property in 2011 at4.5% interest: $1,013

$200,000 property in 2012 at 3.5% interest: $898

What’s more, according to a recent CNN Money article the average cost of closing on a mortgage has fallen by 7.4% over the past year. At the end of June, a homebuyer looking to close on a $200,000 mortgage with 20% down paid an average of $300 less than 12 months earlier.

 

No one knows how long these historically low rates can last. But in the meantime my clients are taking advantage of them to buy the homes of their dreams and lock in once-in-a-lifetime interest rates.

 

Buyers – Denver Has Highest Appreciation of Top 30 Cities

 

A few months ago the National Association of Realtors (NAR) ran a study to determine the home equity gain/loss for homes in the 30 largest U.S. cities over the past three years. They ranked the cities from largest average loss in home equity to largest average gain in equity. While there was little surprise that the usual suspects like Las Vegas and Los Angeles have been among the poorest performers, most of my clients have been shocked to see that metro Denver has had the HIGHEST APPRECIATION OF ANY OF THE TOP 30 U.S. CITIES FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS! Those of us who watch the market as closely as I do were not surprised by this, but for those who don’t, it has come as a most welcome surprise. The fact is that Denver is in the middle of a robust, even historical, real estate recovery that is leading the nation.

Of course no one knows what the future holds. Over time prices will go up and prices will go down, that much never changes. But there’s no denying there is much more confidence in the housing market than there has been for years and this confidence has my buyers excited to see what’s out there. Let me know if you’re curious and want to check out some homes, I’d be happy to show you!

Sellers – Number of Home Sales Highest in 5 Years

We have been discussing for months the incredible turnaround in our housing market. If you’re looking to sell your home this should be very welcome news! One of the key metrics of this recovery has been the high number of homes sold in the past few months. The graphic shows home sales per month for the past seven years. Note that the number of homes sold peaked in 2005 and 2006 and has fallen ever since. But recently this trend has reversed itself. Starting in March of this year the number of homes sold began jumping upwards, from April with 3,133 to May with 3,768 to June with 3,981. June’s numbers are almost equal to those of 2007 when the market was just starting to slow down.

For you as a seller what this means is that it might be a great time to sell. The inventory of homes on the market is at all-time lows, prices are up, and home sales are up as well. Call me and I’ll be happy to run a complimentary Comparative Market Analysis on your home to let you know what it might be worth. It’s great information and costs you nothing!

Investors – Low Vacancies Helps Landlords

Over the past few months we’ve talked a lot in this Newsletter about why so many investors are buying rental properties in metro Denver. The graphic shows one of the reasons why. The vacancy rate is a big driver of how well a rental property performs for a number of reasons. First, the lower the vacancy rate the higher the demand for the property. More demand means landlords can be more choosey selecting their tenants, and also can charge higher prices. In fact, rental rates increased by 4.5% in 2011, the highest jump in 10 years.

One of the reasons vacancy rates are so low is that many people cannot qualify for a loan. I don’t expect this to change for the foreseeable future. We’ve had a huge shakeout in the lending industry, and lending guidelines are much stricter than they were a few years ago. Until lending standards ease up I expect vacancy rates to remain low and keep my investor clients happy. If you’ve ever thought of investing in a condo or house as a rental property call me and I can show you what the numbers look like and what options you have.

YCRE in the News – Your Castle is 5th Fastest Growing Company on Front Range!

Your Castle is proud to announce that according to last week’s edition of the Denver Business Journal in 2011 we were the 5^th fastest growing company of any kind (not just real estate) in the $6.1 - $17.4 Million dollar category! We grew 93% in the past year serving customers like you one at a time with the market knowledge and respect you deserve. We are proud of this achievement but prouder still to work with great customers like you!

Mortgages – Tips to Qualify fo a New Loan

The mortgage market is staying hot with interest rates at all time lows.  If you haven’t reviewed your options lately it may be a great time to take a look at your options to refinance, or your options to trade-up to a bigger home with a lower payment (call me and I’ll tell you how I can help with this!).

But before applying for your new mortgage make sure that you are in good shape with the 4 items needed for a new loan:

1. Income – Make sure your income is remaining consistent and your tax returns are reflecting your total annual income.
2. Credit – For the very best rates you want to have a credit score of 740 or greater.  There are loan options for clients all the way down to a 620 score, but as your credit score goes down your rate goes up.  So it is to your benefit to have your credit cleared up and as high of a score as possible.
3. Assets – You will need to have funds in the bank for your down payment and to show you have 2 months of savings.  Make sure you are depositing all earnings and keeping good records of your bank statements.
4. Collateral – The property you are borrowing against (your current home or your new property) needs to be in good shape and not have any “safety or soundness” issues.  Make sure there are no broken windows, plumbing leaks, lead based paint, etc. 

By taking care of these 4 critical areas you can be confident that you will qualify for a new loan and be able to refinance or buy a new home. 

Neighborhood Spotlight – Auraria

For more information contact Lorena Tankersley at Your Castle Real Estate,LLC at Lorena@yourcastle.org or call 303-981-6539. If you want information specific to your neighborhood, please let me know. http:/Lorena.Yourcastle.org

June 2012 Denver Real Estate Quick Stats

­June 2012 Denver Real Estate Quick Stats 

Denver Metro Single Family Housing Stats:

Active Listings: 9,074

*  Down 36% from June ‘11

Under Contracts: 4,330

*  Up 13% from June ‘11

Solds: 3,981

*  Up 21% from June ‘11

Average Price: $324,497

*  Up 11% from June ‘11

Average Days on Market: 71

*  Down 28% from June ‘11

Denver Metro Condo Housing Stats:

Active Listings: 1,851

*  Down 51% from June ‘11

Under Contracts: 1,033

*  Up 11% from June ‘11

Solds: 923

*  Up 18% from June ‘11

Average Price: $181,578

* Up 15% from June ‘11

Average Days on Market: 74

*  Down 41% from June ‘11

Real Estate News - The Market Has Come Roaring Back!

Something incredible just happened and not many people know about it. The metro Denver real estate market has come ROARING back but the mass media has missed the boat and is just beginning to get wind of it. Consider these facts:

• The inventory of homes for sale is down 36% in the past 12 months.

• The number of sold homes is up 21% in the past 12 months.

• The average Days on Market is down 28% in the past 12 months.

• The average price of a home is up 11% in the past 12 months.

An amazing turnaround has occurred in our market so let’s take a look at historical home prices to highlight the fact. The graphic shows metro Denver residential home prices by month for the past seven years. Look specifically at the line for 2012. What you see is a stunning rise in prices starting in February of this year and continuing through today. In February home prices were at the high end of prices over the past four years, but well below the highs of 2006 and 2007. Starting in March homes prices began leaping upward and have not stopped since. Today, prices are just under the all-time highs of 2006 and 2007. This is what a recovery looks like!

YCRE in the News - 5th Office and 375th Agent!!!

Your Castle Real Estate is proud to announce we’ve just added our 375^th real estate agent to our growing team of professionals. And to better serve your needs, we’ve added a fifth office in the Front Range, located at 8120 Sheridan Blvd., Ste. 335, Westminster.

Mortgages

Lately it seems like I have the same mortgage news for you every month: "Rates are at historic lows!" This month I still have that same message: "Rates are at ALL-TIME lows!" but now I really am beginning to wonder "how low can they go?" For qualified buyers I’m seeing FHA loans close with rates of 3.5% fixed for 30 years, Conventional loans are closing with rates as low as 3.75% fixed for 30 years and finally investor loans are closing with rates as low as 4.0% fixed for 30 years. Interest rates this low truly are UNPRECEDENTED and my clients are getting amazing loans on purchases and refinance loans right now.

If you have been thinking about refinancing your home or moving up and buying a bigger home, it may be a great time to do it. Please feel free to give me a call and I’ll do a free property analysis to help estimate the value of your home and then I’ll get you in touch with my mortgage lender to get you hard numbers about your options for anew mortgage.

Denver Home Price Champe Map - July 2012

(Contact me and I will send you a hard copy of this map or specific to your area)

For more information contact Lorena Tankersley at Your Castle Real Estate,LLC at Lorena@yourcastle.org or call 303-981-6539. If you want information specific to your neighborhood, please let me know. http:/Lorena.Yourcastle.org

May 2012 Denver Real EstateQuick Stats

Denver Metro Single Family Housing Stats:

Active Listings: 8,705

* Down 38% from May. ‘11

Under Contracts: 4,818
* Up 25% from May. ‘11

Solds: 3,768

* Up 24% from May. ‘11

Average Price: $307,896

* Up 10% from May. ‘11

Average Days on Market: 78

* Down 28% from May. ‘11

Denver Metro Condo Housing Stats:

Active Listings: 1,886

*  Down 52% from May. ‘11

Under Contracts: 1,090

* Up 19% from May. ‘11

Solds: 857

*  Up 23% from May. ‘11

Average Price: $179,253

*  Up 12% from May. ‘11

Average Days on Market: 81

*  Down 28% from May. ‘11

Real Estate News – Shadow Inventory: Fact or Fiction?

For many years it has been fashionable among the local real estate intelligentsia to assert that there’s a major “Shadow Inventory” problem lurking in our future; i.e. that there is a huge amount of inventory not yet on the market that will descend upon us at any time and drive home prices down precipitately. While this may be true for many large cities in the US, I believe it isn’t true here.

First, let’s define the term Shadow Inventory. I define it as the number of properties that are either REO (bank-owned) or 90+ days late on their mortgage in a given area that are not yet on the market.

If the inventory is REO, that property could be:

·         Actively on the market, available for purchase today
·         On the market, but under contract
·         Not actively on the market – a part of the Shadow Inventory that has to be sold eventually

If the inventory is consumer-owned, the property could be:
·         Actively on the market, available for purchase (as a short sale or regular sale)
·         Under contract or pending bank approval of short sale terms
·         Not on the market – but likely to get a loan modification
·         Not on the market – but likely to be sold as a regular sale or short sale soon, in an orderly way
·         Not on the market –the owner is in denial, and the home will eventually become a foreclosure. Tis is still part of the Shadow Inventory that may hit the market someday.

I believe the metro Denver area does not have a large Shadow Inventory based on three key data points:

1.      According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), Denver has had the highest average home appreciation gain of any of the 30 largest cities in the U.S. in the past three years, at $29,900. The average gain (loss, actually) of the largest 30 cities is -$18,400. Just for kicks, the worst performing city is Las Vegas, at -$59,900.

2.      Because Denver’s home prices didn’t appreciate as much during the bubble as other cities, and began the correction before most markets, Denver has already processed the majority of its REO inventory. According to NAR, metro Denver has only 9,740 homes currently owned by banks. Only San Antonio and Kansas City have smaller REO inventories. Miami has the largest REO inventory with 159,000 properties.

3.      Denver has the second fewest number of 90+ days late residential mortgages of the top 30 cities in the country at 29,000, again according to NAR. Chicago has 284,000 and Miami has 124,000 90+ days late mortgages respectively.

Buyers – Shadow Inventory: Fact or Fiction? (cont.)

My contention is that while there certainly is Shadow Inventory in our market, there is no Shadow Inventory PROBLEM. Why? Because we have relatively very little Shadow Inventory in our market, and even on the extremely slim chance that a large portion of that inventory suddenly and magically descended on the market in a short period of time, we currently have such a low level of inventory it would actually help our market, not hurt it! Five years ago when we had 27,000 properties on the market, a huge influx of inventory would indeed have been a problem. Today, with an inventory of only 10,000 properties, a dump of 8,000 more properties on the market would only get us back to 2010 inventory levels. In fact, we need this inventory to sell!

So when you read a national news article that describes the Shadow Inventory menace understand that in some part of the country it is indeed a potential problem, but not here. Our Shadow Inventory problem is pure fiction

Sellers – What’s the Real Estate Landscape for a Home Seller These Days?

What does the real estate landscape look like for seller’s these days? Well, let’s review the facts:

1. Metro Denver home prices are up a whopping 10% in the past year.
2. The inventory of homes on the market is the lowest in 13 years.
3. The number of homes under contract is up 25% over this time last year.
4. The average Days on Market for a home is down 28% in the past year.

Add it all up and you get the best seller’s market in a decade. So then, how are sellers reacting to this market? Exactly the same way you would. They are hiking prices, testing the limits of the market, and pushing the envelope. Call me if you want to discuss what your home is worth in this new seller’s market!

Investors - – The Best Investor Market in Years

The decisive uptick in our local real estate market has moved many investors off the fence and into the game. Both buy-and-hold and fix-and-flip investors are finding terrific opportunities to take advantage of this fast changing real estate market.

Long term, buy and hold investors are enjoying a market with very low vacancy rates, historically low interest rates and very high home affordability (home prices, taking into account interest rates). Taken all together we have a market that highly favors buy-and-hold landlords. Most of our clients who buy a single family home as a rental are on track to have the house paid off in 12-14 years. As amazing as that sounds it is very achievable in this market if you know what to buy, where to buy, and how to buy.

Fix and flippers are experiencing demand for their remodeled properties that they haven’t seen for many years. There is a major lack of fixed-up, quality homes on the market, so nice properties in nice neighborhoods are leading the surge in pricing. Because so much of their competing inventory is bank-owned or shortsale properties, their properties shine by comparison. The issue, as always, is finding the right property. I have a tool called the Your Castle Hotsheet that analyzes every new property on the market and tells me, among many other things, how much below market value the property is. Call me so I can show you how it helps me find great deals for my buyers.

YCRE in the News –YCRE is the 2^nd Largest Independent on the Front Range!

Your Castle is proud to announce that according to the 2012 edition of the Denver Business Journal Book of Lists we are now the second largest independent (locally owned, non-franchise) real estate company on the Front Range, and the ninth largest real estate company overall! What started eight years ago as a few real estate investors banding together to find better deals for themselves has grown into a full-service real estate agency dedicated to using technology and our local knowledge to help you find the best deals on the market and sell your home for the highest price possible. Thank you for your support – we couldn’t have done it without you!

Mortgages

Mortgage rates are remaining at historic lows.  We've seen rates below 4% for primary residences and 4.75% or less for investment properties.  We've also seen many homeowner's take advantage of 15 year loans which can have rates as low as 3.25% or less and allow you to pay off your loan in half the time.  If you've been waiting for mortgage rates to decrease before you buy a new property or refinance your current home, now might be a good time to review your options.  

Neighborhood Spotlight – Whittier

The Whittier neighborhood was named after the poet and abolitionist Greenleaf Whittier (seriously). Sitting between 23^rd Ave, Martin Luther King Blvd., York and Downing, Whittier was first populated as a Capitol Hill suburb more than a century ago. Most of the homes were built in the 20^th century and lie behind wonderful old tree-lined streets making this neighborhood an inviting place to call home. Because it’s so close to downtown, Whittier has terrific access to many of Denver’s treasures like the Denver Zoo, City Park, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and so much more. It’s city living without the city hassles and has been a prominent Denver neighborhood for over 100 years.

For more information contact Lorena Tankersley at Your Castle Real Estate,LLC at Lorena@yourcastle.org or call 303-981-6539. If you want information specific to your neighborhood, please let me know. http:/Lorena.Yourcastle.org

March 2012 Denver Real Estate Quick Stats

 Denver Metro Single Family Housing Stats:

Active Listings: 8,303
* Down 39%  from March '11

Under Contract: 4,328
* Up 50% from March '11

Sold: 2,775
* Up 10% from March '11

Average Days on Market : 105
* Down 10% from March '11

Average Price: $284,035
* Up 4% from March '11

Denver Metro Condo Housing Stats:

Active Listings: 2,022
* Down 50% from March '11

Under Contracts: 1,000
* Up 46% from March '11

Sold: 700
* Up 3% from March '11

Average Days on Market: 97
* Down 22% from March '11

Average Price: $161,848
* Up 1% from March '11

Absorption Rate is used to determine how many months it will take to existing inventory of homes to sell.  If it takes 0-5 months to sell, it is a Seller’s Market, 5-6 months is a Balanced Market, 6+ months is a Buyer’s Market.

 The Absorption rate for Denver Metro area over current 3 months was 2.9 whereas, in prior months it was 5.3 which indicates that we are now in a Seller’s Market for the upcoming season.

Real Estate News

The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research met in June 2009 and determined that the recession that began in December 2007 was officially over. Of course, that was a cruel joke to most Americans who were still suffering through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

However, three years later there are unmistakable signs of improvement in our economy.  This has stirred the great awakening in the housing market because housing is inextricably linked not only to the economy, but to the perception of what the economy will do in the future. There are many measures for this perception but the best is probably the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI). This index polls thousands of Americans each month and asks them how confident they are in the economy. Between 2007 and 2008 it plummeted to a level not seen since the 1970s. The level crawled along the bottom for four long years until last year when it started rising. As more good news began trickling out of the U.S. economy the CCI has grown at a slow but steady pace for the past 12 months.

What is causing us to come out of our shells and believe our economic future might hold some promise?

• U.S. unemployment is down to 8.3%, its lowest level in years. The past six months have been the best streak for employment since 2006. Colorado’s unemployment rate is down to 7.8%.
• The stock market is at its highest level since before the recession began, doubling in the past three years.
• The Fed has all but nixed the idea of QE3, meaning it believes the economy is on its way to recovery and won’t require another massive stimulus fund.
• The 4^th quarter, 2011 GDP grew by 3%.
• Home foreclosure sales have dropped to a five-year low.
• According to the Case-Schiller Index the Denver real estate market is the 2nd best in the country.

Many would-be home buyers waited for years for signs of a stabilizing economy before jumping back into the housing market. The green shoots of progress have been growing steadily for the past year which has resulted in buyers jumping back into the housing market and creating our super red-hot housing market. Take a look at the bold figures in our Quick Stats. The number of homes under contract is up 50% in the past year! 

So, if you’ve been waiting on the sidelines for the past few years wondering when it will be a good time to buy again, you might want to start thinking about it. Our economy is improving, inventory of homes is at record low, interest rates are still low (but rising), and home prices have begun rising again. Give me a call and I’d be happy to share all this data with you.

For more information contact Lorena Tankersley at Your Castle Real Estate,LLC  at Lorena@yourcastle.org or call 303-981-6539.  If you want information specific to your neighborhood,  please let me know.

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