HARRY'S BI-WEEKLY UPDATE 11.22.22
November 22, 2022
HARRY’S BI-WEEKLY UPDATE
A Current Look at the Colorado Springs Residential real estate Market
As part of my “Special Brand of Customer Service”, it is my desire to share current Residential real estate issues that will help to make you a more successful and profitable Buyer and Seller.
A VERY SAD TIME IN COLORADO SPRINGS…
It’s with a heavy heart that I begin today’s eNewsletter. As I’m sure most all of you know, Colorado Springs, and more specifically the LGBTQ community here, was the target of a horrendous hate crime where five local citizens lost their lives and at least 25 others were injured.
There are just no words to explain how shocked I was to see this unfold. Most especially with it being so close to Thanksgiving Day, an occasion where we all take the time to be grateful for all that we have in our lives.
I work in an industry that has no tolerance for discrimination of any kind and it is my fervent belief that most people are good—and it is our differences that make us interesting. Learning about how others live and believe opens up new worlds for us if we allow it.
As we prepare for Thanksgiving, let us remember those who lost their lives in this tragic event and try to move forward with tolerance and kindness for all.
RESIDENTIAL real estate IS A BIG TOPIC THESE DAYS…
You can’t pick up a newspaper or look online these days without seeing article after article discussing the Residential real estate market. Most are discussing it in “national” terms, and while I have always said that one needs to look at Residential Real Estate in “local” terms, they are overlapping in many areas now.
To begin with, the Seller’s Market of the recent past is essentially gone and while it has been replaced with a Buyer’s Market, there just aren’t a lot of buyers now, and the ones who are looking are in less of a hurry and more discerning in what they want.
There are several reasons for this, beginning with the fact that interest rates have more than doubled since January. And even though rates fell last week, they are still preventing a number of folks, and most especially first-time buyers, from being able to qualify for a loan.
Across the U.S., existing home sales fell for a ninth straight month in October, with sales declining 5.9% from the prior month. In Colorado Springs, the number of home sales has dropped each month since June, while the inventory has reached its highest level in three years.
Home prices here are continuing to rise monthly, year-over-year, but they are now going up by single digit percentages rather than the unsustainable double digits we saw in the last several years.
I’ve been saying for quite a while that what we were seeing in terms of multiple offers on day one and sales considerably over listing price was not something we should anticipate lasting forever. The low interest rates and lack of available homes for sale created a type of market was not healthy for buyers or sellers in many ways.
A home is often the greatest financial asset of most families and the purchase of such deserves the time and consideration that the last several years did not afford. Buying a home should not be as stressful and frenetic as we were seeing, and it was only a matter of time until this changed as it has.
The typical “buying season” for Residential real estate is usually the spring to early summer, since most families like to be in place prior to a new school year for their children and in place for the holiday season. In the last few years, that fell to the wayside and homes were being bought whenever they could be bought.
Now that things are normalizing, home sales at this time of year would typically be slow, and that’s what we are also seeing here in Colorado Springs.
Folks that were waiting to see how much more their homes could appreciate prior to putting them on the market have found that it’s too late. I’ve had clients in recent days lower their asking price after finding few potential buyers for their properties.
Buyers today can afford to be much more discerning when looking at homes, and with more to choose from, they can request contingencies that only six months ago would have been unheard of. Home inspections are also back in the picture.
This is not to say that homes are not selling, because they are. As I’ve said time and again, there will always be those who need to buy and those who need to sell, all for differing reasons. But most homes have been on the market considerably longer than the one day of the recent past, and sales contracts are looking more like they did several years ago.
And for those who are waiting for home values to go down, you may be waiting a long, long time. Nothing that we are seeing today portends that homes will not continue to appreciate, albeit at a slower, more reasonable pace.
Some folks who wished to sell but were unable, are turning their properties into rentals until they can sell them. Others are waiting to see how interest rates will go and staying put for the moment. I don’t have any two clients with the same wants and needs, so their preferences are all across the board.
I’m guessing a number of you who have considered selling to trade up or to move to a new location have a lot of questions in regard to all of the above.
Please give me a call at 719.593.1000 or email me at Harry@HarrySalzman.com so we can discuss your personal situation and figure a way to try and make today’s Residential real estate market work for you.
COLORADO SPRINGS HOME PRICES CONTINUE TO SURPASS MUCH OF THE COUNTRY IN THE THIRD QUARTER OF 2022
The National Association of Realtors, 11.10.22
In the recently published report, single-family, existing-home sales grew in nearly every measured metro area.
The median price nationally rose 8.6% quarter-over-quarter to $398,500.
The median price of single-family homes in Colorado Springs rose 4.8% to $462,200 during the second quarter of the year, per NAR. This price reflects detached, single-family and patio homes but not townhomes or condominiums.
The median price in the Springs ranked 37th highest of the 185 cities surveyed. And once more, the good news is that while our home values are increasing, they remain less than those in the Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins areas, which makes our city more attractive to potential companies and individuals wanting to relocate to Colorado.
To see all 185 metro areas in alphabetical order, please click here. To see them in ranking order, click here. Or click here to see what income levels are required to purchase homes based on either a 5, 10 or 20 percent down-payment.
ERA SHIELDS QUARTERLY “STAT PACK” PROVIDES A GOOD RESIDENTIAL real estate OVERVIEW
ERAShields, Quarter Three, 2022
As always, I am pleased to provide you with all the most current local information. This easy-to-understand report, along with graphs, gives you a good idea of the state of local Residential real estate.
Below I’ve reprinted the first page of the report and you can click here to read the report in its entirety.
UCCS ECONOMIC FORUM UPDATE
College of Business, UCCS, updated 10.28.22
Here is the most recent economic update from the UCCS Economic Forum. It provides data concerning all aspects of the economy, on both the national and Colorado Springs area levels.
I’ve reproduced the first page of the graphs and you can click here to see the report in its entirety. If you have any questions, please give me a call.
HARRY’S THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
