Sept. 24, 2012

HARRY’S WEEKLY UPDATE

A CURRENT LOOK AT THE COLORADO SPRINGS RESIDENTIAL real estate MARKET

16TH ANNUAL SOUTHERN COLORADO ECONOMIC FORUM TO BE HELD ON THIS COMING FRIDAY, SEPT. 28, 2012.   WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE !!!

Where: Antlers Hilton, 4 S. Cascade Ave.

When: 7 to 11:30 a.m. Sept. 28

What are the benefits of Attending the Forum ?

The Southern Colorado Economic Forum is the premier resource for local economic information. This information is provided for—and supported by—local businesses. Salzman real estate Services is proud to have been a Supporting Member of the forum since its inception 16 years ago.

The Forum is an opportunity for you to learn about the trends and dynamics occurring nationally, statewide, and in our community, and how they will impact your business.

The Forum is a tremendous networking opportunity; you’ll have the chance to meet experts from a variety of industries, UCCS and other businesses that have an interest in the local economy.

Here are some highlights from this Friday’s Southern Colorado Economic Forum:

  • Keynote address: “National and International Outlook” by Jim Paulsen, Chief Investment Strategist, Wells Capital Management.
  • Forum results: Economic Conditions in the Pikes Peak Region and Outlook for the Next 12 Months presented by Fred Crowley, PhD, and Tom Zwirlein, PhD.
  • Business Symposium: The Changing Health Care Environment…”Leveraging Economic Opportunities for the Pikes Peak Region”, moderated by Deborah Chandler, Executive VP and CEO of Colorado Springs Health Partners and featuring five panelists.

Participants who attend the Forum will receive a comprehensive report filled with data, statistics and trends. The content can help you uncover new opportunities, make better business decisions, deliver more compelling sales presentations and position your business as experts who are “in the know.”

Attending this year’s Economic Forum and obtaining the annual report is a great way to jump start your business planning for next year.

To register for the forum, and to see a video about the presenters at this year’s forum, CLICK HERE.

 

LOCAL ECONOMY DIVIDED AMONG GOOD AND BAD INDICATORS

Colorado Springs Business Journal - September 21st, 2012

For the past 16 years, the Southern Colorado Economic Forum, which includes senior economist and UCCS senior instructor Fred Crowley, has been telling it like it is regarding the local economy. The forum examines and compiles the numbers that describe the economic landscape — past, present and future.

But even the forum’s fortune-tellers are having difficulty producing a 2013 forecast. There are too many international, national and local events in motion. The so-called “fiscal cliff” — spending cuts kicking in along with expiring tax cuts — could cause recession in 2013 or at least curtail consumer spending. But locally, rebuilding in the aftermath of the Waldo Canyon fire could create hundreds of jobs a year for the next five years and help make up for the losses in other job sectors.

People in Colorado Springs bought more cars, electronics, furniture and clothing in 2011, which helped increase retail sales by 8.5 percent, or $1 billion, to $13.8 billion.

There has also been some unexpected good rolling into Colorado Springs by way of new housing construction. By year’s end, single family permits are expected to be up 47 percent over 2011. In the first eight months of this year, there have been more housing permits issued than all of last year. The reasons vary from pent-up demand to the historically low interest rates of 3.5 percent. And apartment buildings are having their strongest year since 2002, expecting to end the year at 750 new units.

“It tells me we are definitely coming back,” Zwirlein said. “We are not near the heydays of 2004-05, but we are well on our way to a very healthy rebound in housing construction.”

Then there is the hope of a growing health-care sector around a University of Colorado branch medical campus at UCCS. University of Colorado Health, which takes over daily operations of Memorial on Oct. 1, has agreed to pay $3 million a year for the 40-year lease term to the University of Colorado School of Medicine, to be used to create a branch medical campus in Colorado Springs.

“Certainly one of the growth areas over the past 10 years has been in the health-care sector,” Zwirlein said. “We are very interested in seeing how having a university hospital in Colorado Springs will eventually pan out.”

In eight cities with university hospitals, job creation in the health care sector outpaced all other job creation, Crowley said. In those eight cities, health care jobs were 160 percent of all jobs created, meaning without health care jobs there would have been a decline. The health care sector, Crowley said, grows employment faster, grows wages faster and grows business faster then any other sector.

“What I hope happens — and it won’t happen this year, but maybe in 2014 — there will be health care expansion on some level. The health care industry — they do create jobs. We need to move in that direction and make it grow.”

As an example, the Anschutz Medical campus in Aurora was built in 2004 and is now home to six professional schools. “They’ve created jobs, jobs, jobs,” Zwirlein said. “That is now Aurora’s financial engine and it will be their financial engine for a long time to come.”

 

MAYOR BACH INTRODUCES BUSINESS INCENTIVES, NEW AERONAUTICAL ZONE

In an effort to spur economic and business activity, Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach has created a standard set of economic “accommodations” for new and expanding companies, as well as a Commercial Aeronautical Zone for the Colorado Springs Airport.

Saying the accommodations – essentially economic incentives – would be available for a “limited time only,” Bach said he felt that it was essential to have a standard set of incentives for businesses interested in moving or expanding to Colorado Springs.

“This way, we don’t address it when they come to us,” he said. “It’s standardized, it’s right there for companies to see. We have to do something to address unemployment, particularly in Southeast Colorado Springs.”

The incentives are largely tax breaks and tax credits for Colorado Springs’ share of business personal property and its sales taxes. The city’s portion of those taxes are essentially erased in the newly created Commercial Aeronautical Zone, where the city hopes to attract commercial aeronautical businesses that are engaged in the manufacture, maintenance, repair or overhaul of aircraft.

To be eligible, companies must be primary employers, must create 10 new jobs and must have $1 million in new capital investment. Retail companies must be a “unique business” to the Colorado Springs area.

City Council will approve every deal, Bach said, and the deal can be pulled at any time if the company fails to provide a promised number of jobs.

To learn more about this program, contact the Mayor’s office at 385-5900.

 

THE HORRIBLE WALDO FIRE DID A LOT OF DAMAGE, …BUT IT ALSO CREATED REBUILDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES

The Waldo Canyon fire wiped out 346 homes, damaging hundreds more, and tourism took a beating this summer when visitors were scared off by images of fire on national television. But the after-fire building may prove to be a welcome addition to the local economy, Fred Crowley, Southern Colorado Economic Forum chief economist, said.

Between new construction and refurnishing the homes, the post-fire activity could create 3,800 jobs over a five-year period — jobs that could generate $20 million per year in income and $790,000 a year in sales taxes.

Initial insurance claims of $353 million suggest the economic impact of rebuilding could be significant, he said. And the refurnishing is not just for those homes that burned to the ground, but for the many homes that suffered severe smoke damage.

“That’s where these numbers just get mind-boggling,” Crowley said.

Mountain Shadows residents could spend $213 million to replace the items in their homes, Zwirlein said. “I was amazed when you look at the insurance claims — the proportion that goes toward rebuilding the home and proportion that goes to restocking it — those restocking numbers are huge.”

In the meantime, the forum’s predictions for 2013 include more housing permits, reduced federal expenditures, continued low interest rates, expiring Bush-era tax cuts, and lowered economic activity due to large reductions in federal expenditures and increases in tax rates.

“There are two things the region needs,” Crowley said. “Jobs and high-paying jobs.”

 

ECONOMISTS BULLISH ON HOUSING RECOVERY

By Inman News, Thursday, September 20, 2012.

Home prices will see steady increases through 2016 starting this year, according to a quarterly survey of more than 100 economists, real estate experts and investment strategists.

Economists now forecast home prices will rise 2.3 percent in 2012 from fourth-quarter 2011, and see further cumulative rises of 4.7 percent in 2013, 8 percent in 2014, 11.4 percent in 2015, and 15.2 percent in 2016.

"This is further evidence that we're seeing a true recovery in the housing market," said Stan Humphries, Zillow's chief economist, in a statement.

"Not since mid-2010 -- in the midst of the homebuyer tax credits -- have we seen this group so bullish on housing. It's refreshing to see this optimism at a time when the market seems to be making an organic recovery, in the absence of an artificial stimulant like the tax credits."

Call us at 598-3200, or, 800 677-6683 (MOVE) to discuss what this could mean to your financial security.

 

AUGUST EXISTING-HOME SALES AND PRICES RISE

National Association of Realtors - September 19, 2012

Existing-home sales continued to improve in August and the national median price rose on a year-over-year basis for the sixth straight month, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Total existing-home sales,  which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 7.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.82 million in August from 4.47 million in July, and are 9.3 percent higher than the 4.41 million-unit level in August 2011.

Lawrence Yun , NAR chief economist, said favorable buying conditions get the credit. "The housing market is steadily recovering with consistent increases in both home sales and median prices. The West and Florida markets are experiencing inventory shortages, which are placing pressure on prices."…and that includes Colorado Springs !!

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.60 percent in August from a record low 3.55 percent in July; the rate was 4.27 percent in August 2011.

The national median existing-home prices for all housing types was $187,400 in August, up 9.5 percent from a year ago. The last time there were six back-to-back monthly price increases from a year earlier was from December 2005 to May 2006. The August increase was the strongest since January 2006 when the median price rose 10.2 percent from a year earlier.

Total housing inventory at the end August rose 2.9 percent to 2.47 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 6.1-month supply 4 at the current sales pace, down from a 6.4-month supply in July. Listed inventory is 18.2 percent below a year ago when there was an 8.2-month supply.

Call us at 598-3200, or, 800 677-6683 (MOVE) to discuss how rising home prices might affect your decision to buy now !!

 

LATEST LOCAL STATISTICS FROM PPAR

Click here to see the most recent Sales and Listing information for the Pikes Peak area.

These statistics are published by the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors and can be helpful to you in evaluating and comparing current listings in the various neighborhoods in our area. If you would like to ask any questions about this data, please give us a call at 598-3200, or, 800 677-6683 (MOVE).


And, please remember, I would be honored to serve as your Broker for all of your residential real estate needs. I want to help you, my reader, make the most prudent and accurate Real Estate business decision.

Also if you know of anyone who desires to buy or sell local real estate, or, who is moving in or out of the Pikes Peak region, remember that, with over 40 years of providing relocation and Real Estate services to clients throughout the country, I am uniquely qualified to assist them with the relocation process, including buying and/or selling their homes on both ends of their move. Please allow me to implement my negotiating skills on your behalf.

Just click on the icon at the top of this email to listen to my latest podcast.

 

JOKE

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