HARRY'S BI-WEEKLY UPDATE 7.6.2016
July 6, 2016
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.
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AND THE GOOD NEWS JUST KEEPS ON COMING FOR LOCAL HOMEOWNERS
Hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day holiday. I waited a couple of days to publish this in anticipation of sharing more good news with you on the home front and I wasn’t disappointed. The June PPAR statistics came out yesterday and once more the Pikes Peak area has record-setting sales of previously owned homes and in median home prices which brought us to 23 consequent months of increased local Residential real estate sales,
Homes are selling at a whopping 99.8% of listing price. Not only that—the average days on the market is a low 28. This is such good news for both buyers and sellers.
As you will see in the Cumulative Year to Date Summary, total sales numbers in Single Family/Patio Homes are up 17.8% over June 2015.
The Monthly Summary shows that total active listings are down 16.8% for Single Family/Patio Homes and 34.4% for Condo/Townhomes compared to a year ago. This downward trend is continuing to be great for sellers. However, it is more difficult, but certainly not impossible, for current buyers to find a new home.
Median Sales Prices are up 5.0% and 12.4% for both Single Family/Patio Homes and Condo/Townhomes respectively—more wonderful news for both buyers and sellers.
The spring buying spree has turned into the summer buying spree and I don’t see the end in sight. Higher rents and better mortgage loan opportunities are an impetus for first-time buyers. With the mortgage loan rates still historically low, many current homeowners are taking advantage by selling to trade up, downsize or move to a new neighborhood.
And worth repeating--it’s very important in today’s market to know what you want, need and can afford prior to the hunt for a new home. There’s no longer the luxury of “let me think about it for a couple of days or even a few hours” at present, as you can see from the statistics.
As an aside, we can thank “Brexit” for delivering US homebuyers with a very definable windfall: mortgage rates are now the lowest they’ve been in three years!
More good news locally is that new listings are up—9.3% for Single Family/Patio Homes and 22.6% for Condo/Townhomes. This indicates that local homeowners are finally realizing that it’s a good time to put their equity to work for them and others are finally seeing increased equity after having been “underwater” for a few years. In any case, that translates to more homes for sale and hopefully a little less frenzy in the buying process.
Speaking of the buying (and selling) process…whenever the real estate market gets “hot” we find more people wanting to get into the real estate profession. Lack of experience can be a real detriment for both a buyer and a seller in this type of market and that’s why I encourage you to use a knowledgeable, experienced real estate professional like myself in your home buying and selling transactions. I’ve witnessed some things in recent weeks that I would never want my clients to have to experience. So…a word to the wise…in one of the most important financial decisions of your life you need someone like me on your side.
If you’re considering a move…either across town or across the country...give me a call at 598.3200 or email me at Harry@HarrySalzman.com and let’s get the ball rolling. I look forward to putting my special brand of customer service to work for you, your family and friends or co-workers.
JUNE 2016 WAS THE 23TH STRAIGHT MONTH OF INCREASED LOCAL RESIDENTIAL real estate SALES
Statistics provided by the Pikes Peak REALTORS Service Corp, or it’s PPMLS
Here are some highlights from the June 2016 PPAR report. Please click here to view the detailed 14-page report, including charts. If you have any questions, just give me a call.
In comparing June 2016 to June 2015 in PPAR:
Single Family/Patio Homes:
- New Listings are 2,056, Up 9.3%
- Number of Sales are 1,651, Up 17.8%
- Average Sales Price is $294,962, Up 5.6%
- Median Sales Price is $262,500, Up 5.0%
- Total Active Listings are 2,639, Down 16.8%
Condo/Townhomes:
- New Listings are 266, Up 22.6%
- Number of Sales are 204, Down 3.8%
- Average Sales Price is $183,237, Up 10.2%
- Median Sales Price is $170,000, Up 12.4%
- Total Active Listings are 191, Down 34.4%
COLORADO SPRINGS AREA MONTHLY SINGLE FAMILY/PATIO HOME SALES ANALYSIS*
Median Sales Price Median Sales Price
June 2016 June 2015
Black Forest $433,500 $418,000
Briargate $355,500 $342,400
Central $200,000 $217,000
East $223,000 $190,500
Fountain Valley: $229,900 $217,500
Manitou Springs: $347,500 $334,500
Marksheffel: $279,900 $258,000
Northeast: $244,450 $239,000
Northgate: $397,500 $365,999
Northwest: $377,500 $336,500
Old Colorado City: $240,000 $210,000
Powers: $250,000 $236,500
Southwest: $342,250 $308,750
Tri-Lakes: $425,000 $415,500
West: $250,000 $201,000
*Statistics provided by the Pikes Peak REALTORS Services Corp,or its PPMLS.
MORE REPORTS FILLED WITH GOOD NEWS
One of the reasons I like to share both local and national statistics with you is that I’ve always believed that an informed buyer or seller is a good buyer or seller. The more information you have helps you make a better decision and when it comes to home buying and selling you need as much information as possible from multiple sources.
You can click here to see the latest report from the UCCS Economic Forum, which shows both national and local statistics for the month of May.
The detailed reports from PPAR for May 2016 are also now available. You can click here for the Monthly Indicators report and click here for the Local Market Update.
CITY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UNDERWAY
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers has appointed a 15-person committee, along with Committee Chairman Merv Bennett and Vice-Chair Jill Gaebler to work together for two years.
According to the Mayor it is our task to “Create and implement an updated land use vision for our future as Olympic City, USA.” I am honored to represent the real estate community, and even more so because I can keep you all informed in a timely manner about future plans for our city.
Stay tuned for information as it becomes available.
RENTERS STILL HAVING A ROUGH TIME
RealtorMag, 6.23 & 6.27.16
About 21.3 million Americans—a record high—are devoting 30 percent or more of their income to paying rent, according to the annual State of the Nation’s Housing report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Even more, 11 million renters in 2014 paid at lease half of their income toward housing costs, which marked another high, the report shows. Most financial experts say consumers should not pay more then 30 percent of their monthly income for housing costs.
Rents have been rising faster than wages for years now. According to Dan McCue, a senior research associate at Harvard, “When you have to dedicate such a high proportion of your income to rent every month it forces you to make difficult decisions. It means spending less on essentials like food, clothing, and health care, as well as less opportunity to save for a down payment on a home or plan for retirement.”
According to the report, the median rent for a new apartment was $1,381. That means a renter would need to earn at least $55,000 a year to afford the rent. Yet on average, renters earn about $34,000—which would mean an affordable rent would be closer to $850.
Affordability is another reason why renters are not yet owners, according to Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “We are seeing flashing yellow lights on affordability. People who are currently renting and want to convert into ownership—major difficulty. Home prices are rising way too fast compared to people’s income and wage growth. We are facing housing affordability challenges already with low mortgage rates, but what happens when the rates begin to rise?”
As I’ve written before, many mortgage lenders are lowering their qualification and down payment requirements in an attempt to help first-time homebuyers. This is certainly worth investigating if you or anyone you know is in this situation.
This also presents an opportunity for those looking for investment property. In either case, I am available to help you discover the best way to deal with the situation, and hopefully find solutions in either of these scenarios. Just give me a call at 598.3200 and let’s see how to make home ownership or investment opportunities work for you.
PLAN. PREPARE. PREVAIL.
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, 6.22.16
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has a convenient way for individuals, families and small business owners to learn about what financial documents and records they need to have available in case of an emergency or disaster.
The Plan.Prepare.Prevail. is an extensive website containing disaster-preparedness information:
- Personal and small business financial inventory forms
- Quick checklists to identify and organize key financial records
- Links to other valuable resources and materials
Disasters don’t take a vacation. Make sure your financial records are ready by visiting this website today.
HARRY’S JOKE OF THE DAY:
Job Well Done
Seller to Agent: You’ve done such a great job describing my house in your real estate listing that I’ve decided to keep it!
