January 10, 2020
HARRY’S BI-WEEKLY UPDATE
A Current Look at the Colorado Springs Residential real estate Market
As part of my Personal Service, it is my desire to share current real estate issues that will help to make you a more successful and profitable buyer or seller.
A QUICK LOOK BACK…THEN SOME OF MY “2020” VISION…
2019 was an interesting year in local Residential real estate.
Colorado Springs consistently ranked much higher than the U.S. average in terms of home appreciation once again and there are a number of reasons for this. To begin with, the shortage of listings—the lowest number in decades—has continued to make this a seller’s market and along with that, we saw very short days on the market and sales prices over list price. Bidding wars and all-cash offers did not give buyers much time to make a decision once they found a house they wanted to purchase.
Lower than anticipated mortgage interest rates, still historically low, allowed more folks to consider selling their present home to trade up, but they were hesitant to list their home prior to buying, since it would likely sell much quicker than in the recent past. Often the new purchase offers did not allow for any contingencies, therefore new ways of making offers were a necessity.
Thankfully my clients had me—and “Mr. Negotiator” is one of my aliases. If there was a way to make things come together, I could find it if at all possible.
Due to the Colorado Springs’ inclusion on so many “Top 10” lists (Best Place to Live, Best Place for Small Business, Best Place for Work/Life Balance, and more), it’s no wonder that a number of companies are relocating here and existing companies are growing and adding staff. Along with them come relocated employees and others who are all looking for a place to live.
As a relocation specialist, I’ve had a much more difficult time finding properties for those moving to the Springs. There just aren’t many homes for sale. It has even been tough to find places for these folks to rent while searching for a home. Rental rates here are at an all-time high.
This, of course, presents another problem. I have a number of clients who are on the lookout for investment properties and with the listing shortage, there just aren’t a lot of those around either.
On top of all this—another “Top Ten”. The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) has ranked Colorado Springs as number 9 of the top 100 large metropolitan statistical areas that are predicted to “outperform” in terms of residential real estate over the next 3-5 years.
New home construction was strong in 2019 and looks to continue that way into the foreseeable future with new home prices are continuing to rise as well. This was an option for many of my clients in 2019 and I’m certain it will remain so in 2020. I’ve got a good working relationship with many of the local homebuilders, so that helps when my clients are ready.
I can help with site and home selection, as well as making certain that you can get the best financing to fit your individual needs. And, of course, this comes at no additional cost to you. It’s a excellent option for this coming year. Especially since your present home will no doubt sell quickly and you could more than likely lease it back from the new owner while your new home is being built.
Lots of things to consider for sure.
Millennials are finally looking at homeownership and unfortunately are also facing limited options. They are finding Colorado Springs a great place to call home and to begin raising families, interest rates are very favorable, but they are being held back due again to the listing shortage.
See a theme here? If you’ve even considered selling your present home, NOW is the perfect time. You’ve probably got more equity than you might imagine and when coupled with the low interest rates—it might just make sense for you to make a move now--and most likely you can ‘trade up”.
Yes, times are a bit challenging for Residential real estate, but if you know me at all—you know I relish a good challenge. I’ve been in the local real estate arena for more than 47 years and have been around for all the cycles. I know that ins and outs of doing whatever it takes for find solutions for most any of these challenges and my investment banking background gives me a heads up on the competition.
I work with each client to determine their individual needs, wants and budget and work to make things happen. If something is not in your best interest I’ll tell you so. I’m in this business for long term relationships with my clients, not a quick sale. It’s been my pleasure to recently have worked with children and grandchildren of my past clients and I hope to continue that legacy.
A new year brings with it a lot of new hopes and dreams. If Residential real estate is among your hopes and dreams for 2020, please give me a call at 593.1000 or email me at Harry@HarrySalzman.com and let me help make them all come true.
And now for statistics…
DECEMBER 2019
Statistics provided by the Pikes Peak REALTORS Service Corp., or it’s PPMLS
Here are some highlights from the December 2019 PPAR report. Remember that the new format of this report no longer provides monthly statistics for each individual neighborhood. However, if you are interested in what’s happening in your neighborhood, I can provide you with this information through other means.
In El Paso County, the average days on the market for single family/patio homes was 31. For condo/townhomes is was 26.
The sales price/list price for single family/patio homes was 99.5% and for condo/townhomes was 100.0%.
Since this is also year-end, I am providing you with both the regularly posted year-over-year monthly stats as well as the cumulative year-to-date comparison of 2019 to 2018.
Please click here to view the detailed 9-page report, including charts. If you have any questions about the report or to find out how it relates to your individual situation, just give me a call.
In comparing December 2019 to December 2018 for All Homes in PPAR:
Single Family/Patio Homes:
· New Listings were 822, Up 14.6%
· Number of Sales were 1,247, Up 17.2%
· Average Sales Price was $364,584, Up 6.9%
· Median Sales Price was $329,990, Up 9.7%
· Total Active Listings are 1,302, Down 22.7%
· Months Supply is 1.0, Down 1.3%
Condo/Townhomes:
· New Listings were 121, Up 5.2%
· Number of Sales were 172, Up 18.6%
· Average Sales Price was $249,551, Up 9.8%
· Median Sales Price was $238,950, Up 11.1%
· Total Active Listings are 131, Down 12.1%
· Months Supply is 0.8, Down 0.6%
The Cumulative YTD Summary: (comparing Jan-Dec 2019 to Jan-Dec 2018)
Single Family/Patio Homes:
- New Listings were 18,559, Down 0.2%
- Sales were 16,060, Up 3.1%
- Average Sales Price was $366,371, Up 5.5%
- Volume was $5,883,918,260, Up 8.8%
Condo/Townhomes:
- New Listings were 2,454, Down 1.5%
- Sales were 2,232, Down 1.8%
- Average Sales Price was $247,958, Up 8.7%
- Volume was $553,442,256, Up 6.6%
A look at more statistics…
DECEMBER 2019 LOCAL MARKET UPDATE AND MONTHLY INDICATORS ILLUSTRATE OUR LOCAL TRENDS IN DETAIL
Colorado Association of REALTORS® , Pikes Peak REALTORS Service Corp, or it’s PPMLS
Providing greater detail than the above report, this contains information on both Colorado Springs and Teller counties for Residential real estate.
It is broken down by geographical areas and you can look to see how your neighborhood is doing in terms of sales, prices, and more.
The “Activity Snapshot” for all residential properties in El Paso and Teller counties shows the Year to Date one-year change:
- Sold Listings for All Properties were Up 5.5%
- Median Sales Price for All Properties was Up 9.1%
- Active Listings on All Properties were Down 30.3%
You can click here to read the 16-page Monthly Indicators or click here to get specific information on the geographical area of your choice from the 18-page Local Market Update. I recommend that you check out your own area or one that you are considering, to get a good idea of the local pulse. As an example, here is a detailed report on the Colorado Springs area:
FHA LOAN LIMITS INCREASING THIS YEAR
Realtor Mag, 12.19
The Federal Housing Administration is increasing its loan limit for most of the country this year. The FHA loan limit will be $331,760, increasing $17,000 from 2019. This increase is due to the increase in home prices nationwide.
The increases for various U.S. counties can be significantly higher than that or even lower than they were in 2019, depending on home price increases in those areas. The FHA is required by law to set single-family loan limits at 115% of median home prices.
New FHA loan limits in our immediate area are:
El Paso County: $356,500
Teller County: $356,500
Pueblo County: $331,760
Fremont County: $331,760
Also, the conforming loan limits for Conventional and VA loans will be $510,400 locally and VA will allow for no down payment to exceed that amount if the veteran has full entitlement available.
If you have any questions, please give me a call.
IMPORTANT NOTE—DO NOT ABBREVIATE “2020”….A WORD TO THE WISE
It is important to not abbreviate “2020” in official documents because security officials are warning that it can make it easy for scammers to commit forgery. They say that the abbreviation makes it easy for scammers to change out the numbers on paperwork. For example, if you write 1/10/20, it could be changed to read 1/10/2021.
It is best to not only write the year as “2020”, but also to write out the month. The above mentioned date would read January 10, 2020.
Police departments across the U.S. are encouraging folks to do this and I concur. It could save lots of trouble down the line.
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