MOI is Still LOW

by Heather Patel

Despite decreased buyer activity driven by normal seasonal patterns plus higher interest rates, the key stat of Months of Inventory continues to stay relatively low.

Months of Inventory (MOI) is the simple measurement of how long it would take to sell the current inventory of homes for sale at the current pace of sales.

Along the Front Range, this stat ranges from roughly 2 ½ months to just over 3. A market is considered ‘balanced’ when there is 4 to 6 months of inventory for sale.

Here are the specific numbers for Front Range markets:

Larimer County = 3.1 Months

Weld County = 2.7 Months

Metro Denver = 2.4 Months

Buyers & Sellers • Housing Trends • Market Trends • Sellers • Windermere Real Estate • October 13, 2023

The Price is Right

by Heather Patel

This is an interesting and important time of year for current home sellers.

Thanksgiving is approximately 45 days away which is an important deadline for home buyers.

Many buyers who are considering a move this time of year would like to close on a home before Thanksgiving.

Current home sellers have a one to two week window to have their property under contract so a buyer can close by the Thanksgiving deadline.

Activity always slows in the winter and typically doesn’t show a noticeable increase until March.

So, proper pricing is paramount today so that sellers can take advantage of the seasonal window which is closing soon.

Buyers & Sellers • Fort Collins Real Estate • Housing Trends • Market News • October 10, 2023

Increasing Reductions

by Heather Patel

More and more sellers are having to reduce their listing price.

Nationally, 37% of all home sellers have recently had a listing price reduction. This is according to a recent report from Altos Research.

This is up from 30% in May and is now at the second-highest level since 2018. The highest it has been in the last five years is November 2022 when it stood at 41%.

A “normal” range is between 25% and 30%. Today’s number is a result of softening demand based on higher interest rates.

Proper pricing is always important for a seller and is especially so now as we enter a typically slower time of the year with added challenges related to interest rates.

Buyers & Sellers • Housing Trends • Market Trends • Sellers • Windermere Real Estate • October 5, 2023

Jump to Three

by Heather Patel

The most notable change in the market, in terms of a specific statistic, is months of inventory.

This statistic measures how long it would take to sell all of the current inventory at the current pace of sales.

Months of inventory has jumped to three along the Front Range.

One year ago, it was two months. Two years ago, it was three weeks.

The jump is a result of decreased demand driven by higher interest rates combined with slightly increasing inventory.

We expect months of inventory to continue to increase and imagine it could be at four months by this winter.

Blog • Buyers & Sellers • Fun Facts • Windermere Real Estate • September 19, 2023

$44 Trillion

by Heather Patel

Have you ever wondered how much all of the residential real estate in the U.S. is worth?

It’s $44.5 trillion.

That’s 44 with 12 zeroes after it.

This data comes from the Federal Reserve’s Quarterly “Z.1” report.

The total valuation increased by $2.4 Trillion over the last quarter and is essentially flat compared to one year ago.

In total, liabilities on residential properties (mortgages, equity loans, etc.) is $12.9 trillion.

So, collectively, residential property owners in the U.S. have a 71% equity share and owe 29% of the value.

Buyers & Sellers • Colorado Housing • Fort Collins Real Estate • Fun Facts • Market Trends • September 6, 2023

Ups and Downs

by Heather Patel

Here is a look at how the market performed in August versus August 2022

Prices:

Larimer County Up 4%

Weld County Up 8%

Metro Denver Up 6%

Transactions:

Larimer County Down 18%

Weld County Down 31%

Metro Denver Down 15%

Inventory:

Larimer County Up 18%

Weld County No Change

Metro Denver Down 4%

Buyers • Fort Collins Real Estate • Fun Facts • Market Trends • September 1, 2023

Where It’s At

by Heather Patel

New Homes are where it’s at.

By ‘it,’ we mean inventory.

Given low supply of existing homes, home buyers have figured out that new homes offer an effective place to find homes for sale.

Here are the stats…

Inventory of existing homes is down 7.7% year over year. And, last year’s inventory was historically low.

Meanwhile, sales of new homes rose 4.4%. This increase was much more than most analysts expected.

New Homes are where it is at.

Buyers & Sellers • Colorado Housing • Market Trends • August 24, 2023

Larimer Resilience

by Heather Patel

To see the resilience of the Front Range market, look no further than Larimer County.

The average price for closed single-family homes in the month of July was $724,000.

This is only the third time in history Larimer County has exceeded $700,000 for average price in a month.

July’s average price is a whopping 12% higher than February’s average price which was $646,000.

A 12% difference in just a few months is significant in any market.

What makes this increase especially significant is that interest rates have been above 6.5% the entire time.

Higher rates did not keep prices from going higher.

Colorado Housing • Fort Collins Real Estate • Greeley Real Estate • August 24, 2023

Protesting!

by Heather Patel

The number of protests filed with Colorado’s 64 county assessors increased 300% in 2023 compared to the average number of protests from the previous three assessment cycles.

Property owners filed at least 308,298 protests with Colorado’s 64 county assessors this year, which compares to an average of 103,000 annual protests in the last three assessment cycles in 2021, 2019 and 2017.

The increase was due to the amount values increased from this valuation period versus the last one. This was because the time frame considered for comparable sales, July 1 2020 to June 30 2022, was arguably the most robust real estate market in our lifetime.

Colorado Housing • Housing Trends • Sellers • August 15, 2023

Showings to Sell

by Heather Patel

How many showings will a property have before it sells?

In Northern Colorado, the answer is eight.

This is according to our local MLS system called IRES which tracks the median number of showings a property has before going under contract.

This information is valuable to sellers so they can have realistic expectations while starting the process of selling their home.

It is also a useful guideline to gauge if a property is priced correctly. If a home has had more than eight showings but is not under contract yet, there may be an issue with the price and/or condition.

Counterintuitively, this statistic is lower today than it was in the hot market of 2021. Back then the median was 12 in Larimer County and 10 in Weld County.

The reason why it was higher then, even though the market was stronger, is because there were many more buyers looking at properties. Back then there were so many buyers that many homes only allowed 15-minute showing windows in order to accommodate all of the people who wanted to see homes.