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Multi-Wow
Check out what’s happening in the multi-family market in Fort Collins.
100K
The City Manager for Fort Collins, Darin Atteberry, recently visited our weekly sales meeting. He had several interesting and valuable facts to share, including this…
Based on the City’s research, Fort Collins will grow by 100,000 people over the next 25 to 32 years. That will bring the population to approximately 255,000 people. It means Fort Collins will essentially add the equivalent of Boulder’s population over the next two and a half decades.
The Trump Tantrum
Since the election interest rates have jumped from 3.77% to 3.95% according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
“This week’s increase in mortgage rates, being dubbed the ‘Trump Tantrum,’ is the biggest one week increase since the ‘Taper Tantrum‘ in June 2013,” said Bankrate’s chief financial analyst Greg McBride.
Economists say the anticipation of Trump’s pledged spending plans and tax cuts have investors anticipating some inflation and a dose of adrenaline to the economy which have caused a great deal of volatility in the market.
A little perspective is in order- rates today are still lower than the 3.97% recorded last year at this time. And, rates today are still essentially half of their long-term average.
Using a $400,000 home as an example with a 20% down payment, this interest rate increase translates to an additional $34 per month.
Many economists believe that we are now seeing the beginning of a long-term rise in interest rates.
source: Inman News
Interesting Takeaways
The Zillow Group just completed an extensive survey of home buyers and sellers. Here are some interesting takeaways from the research:
- Half of today’s home buyers are under the age of 36, and 47 percent are first-time buyers. Solo home buyers are in the minority;
most buyers are shopping with a spouse or partner (73 percent). - Eighty-three percent of buyers are shopping for a single-family house. Their top considerations are affordability and being in a safe neighborhood.
- Today’s sellers are most often members of Generation X (38 percent), and the majority (63 percent of all sellers) are listing a home for the first time.
- Most sellers are trading their homes for one they see as an upgrade, seeking a median of 100 more square feet and a home that costs an average of 11 percent more.
- Sellers’ top regret was that they didn’t take more time to prepare for a sale (30 percent). (By the way, Windermere’s Certified Listing is a proven 10-step process which prepares both the home and our clients for the sale. Let us know if you want to know more about it.)
Top 5
A new report from Veros Real Estate Solutions, which works in enterprise risk management and collateral valuation services, shows the strongest and weakest markets for the next 12 months ending in Sept. 1, 2017.
Their Top 5 Markets:
At the bottom of their list is… Atlantic City.
Hot and Not
Where are the hottest markets in Northern Colorado?
Hint – it starts with “W”
Turns out the communities with the largest increase in year over year sales are… (drum roll please)
Windsor and Wellington!
Windsor transactions are up 22% more than last year. Wellington has seen an 11% increase.
All other NoCo communities are flat or lower than last year.
For example, Boulder transactions are down 9% compared to 2015.
Certainly one of the reasons for the uptick in Wellington and Windsor is the amount of inventory available to choose from and specifically inventory in the lower price ranges.
So, while prices are up everywhere, only two places have seen more sales than last year.
Signs of Slowing
It’s not just temperatures cooling off as we transition from summer to fall, there are signs that the market is cooling as well.
The numbers are in and both Loveland and Fort Collins had their slowest August in several years.
Loveland had 127 single family home sales last month. This is 16% lower than August 2015 and the slowest August for Loveland since 2012.
Fort Collins had their slowest August since 2011 with 206 single family sales. This is 13% lower than last year.
This is good news for buyers who may have been reluctant to enter the multiple-offer frenzy that occurred this past spring. It looks like we are moving toward a more “normal” market.
Beware of Low Down Payments
First-time buyers can borrow with little down, but that may not be wise
Financial planners warn: "Borrowers should not overlook the true measure of home affordability: monthly cash flow."
Is your down payment going to affect your cash flow in the end? Check out this article to see what they suggest.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/02/homebuyers-beware-of-banks-offering-too-much-cash.html
The Winner Is…
With the Olympics stoking the spirit of competition, we took a look at how Colorado stacks up against the other states when it comes to real estate prices.
Our impartial judge for the competition is the Federal Housing Finance Authority who tracks close to 300 real estate markets all over the country.
For this competition we are looking at home price appreciation over the last five years. Simply, how much have prices gone up for each state?
And the winner is… (not Colorado)
The winner is Nevada with a 68% increase in the last five years.
Here’s the top 5:
1. Nevada 68%
2. Arizona 57%
3. California 54%
4. Florida 53%
5. Colorado 48%
Here’s the deal about this list- other than Colorado, these are all the states that were hit hardest by the real estate downturn in 2008 & 2009. These states are still clawing their way out of the hole that was created. While Colorado continues to show a more steady pattern without the wild swings seen in other places.
