Fun Facts March 8, 2024

Seller Beware

As interest rates have gone up, buyers’ tolerance has gone down.

Generally speaking, the mindset of buyers now is dramatically different from two to three years ago.

Buyers used to be more open-minded and flexible and now that has changed.

Higher rates have caused them to be far less tolerant of:

  • Aggressive pricing
  • Wear and tear
  • Properties in need of updates
  • Properties not staged
  • Defects and bad odors
  • Unsightly neighboring properties

Essentially, buyers are saying “If I am going to pay a higher interest rate, the property needs to be fairly priced and in very good condition.”

Sellers who are not aware of this dynamic, are the ones who have properties sitting on the market for excessive time.

Fun Facts January 12, 2024

Out of the Gates

How is the year starting? All of us in the real estate industry are especially curious to see how 2024 is starting off after the first slow real estate year in a long time.

Rates have settled down and are trending down.

Prices have shown resilience and continue to go up.

But, how about transactions? Are they picking up after a year that saw an 18% decline in the number of closed residential properties?

It turns out the year is starting off strong but not unusually strong.

Pending transactions are up in Larimer County 7% year over year and up 3% in Weld County.

So, we are already seeing signs that 2024 will be a year of growth compared to last year.

Fun Facts January 5, 2024

No Drop

The numbers are in and it turns out that not even 8% rates could make prices drop in 2023.

When mortgage rates jumped this last year, many people believed that home values would fall as a result.

The fact that prices stayed flat in 2023 even though interest rates doubled between March 2022 and October 2023, shows that values along the Front Range are incredibly resilient.

Here are the 2023 average prices along the Front Range and their change compared to 2022:

Larimer County:  $621,538 / 1%

Weld County:  $527,600 / 1%

Metro Denver:  $679,710 / 0%

Fun Facts December 15, 2023

Price Plummet

For anyone waiting for home prices to drop before making a buying decision, there is good news.

The recent plummet in mortgage rates means that home prices, effectively, just took a big dip.

Rates have gone down by 1% in the last 45 days which means that a prospective home buyer’s payment is 10% less today than what it would have been at the end of October.

For example, the Principal and Interest payment for a $500,000 loan is $341 less today than what it was 45 days ago.

So, from a buyer’s perspective, prices have gone down by 10% in a very short time.

Fun Facts December 8, 2023

Inventory in Perspective

A significant dynamic in the Front Range market is the relatively low inventory. This is the main reason why prices are stable despite higher rates.

Here is some perspective on the inventory of homes for sale to help give some context.

Today’s inventory is:

  • Half of the long-term average going back 30 years
  • ¼ of the all-time high in 2006
  • 3 times the all-time low of 2021
Fun Facts December 1, 2023

Most Surprising News

The most surprising piece of news for our friends and clients is that prices are essentially flat compared to last year.  People find that surprising given what interest rates have done over the last 18 months.  They wonder, how could prices not fall significantly after interest rates jumped considerably? 

The answer is the fundamental economic lesson of supply and demand.

There is enough demand in the market for the current supply to keep prices stable even in an environment of higher rates.

Now that rates are (finally) trending down, it gives us even more confidence about the continued growth of real estate prices along the Front Range.

Here is a look at how home prices compare to one year ago:

Larimer County = Down 0.8%

Weld County = Up 3.4%

Metro Denver = Up 0.8%

Fun Facts November 10, 2023

A Rate-Induced Pop

The recent drop in mortgage rates triggered a measurable uptick in sales activity.

So far through the first 10 days of November, pending activity in Northern Colorado is up versus the same 10 days last year.

This is despite interest rates being higher than they were last year.

Mortgage rates just had their biggest one-week drop in over a year and buyers clearly responded.

Pending sales through November so far are up versus last year:

48% in Larimer County

20% in Weld County

Fun Facts March 17, 2023

March Madness

When things get crazy on Wall Street, it’s often good for real estate.

Uncertainty in the stock market attracts investors to the stability offered by Treasury Bonds.

Higher demand for bonds means lower interest rates which is obviously good for real estate buyers.

“Turbulence in the financial markets is putting significant downward pressure on rates” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

After peaking at just over 7% at the end of October, rates have been trending down.

The current rate on a 30-year loan is 6.6%.  A year ago it was 4.16%.

Fun Facts February 17, 2023

Rate Prediction

Our Chief Economist, Matthew Gardner predicts that interest rates will hit 5.4% by the end of 2023.

His prediction is aligned with most expert real estate economists.

While rates will continue to bounce up and down as the year goes on, the general trend will be lower rates.

This prediction is mainly based on the Fed tempering their increases as inflation starts to ease in the second half of the year.

Because of this prediction, we see housing demand increasing as rates decrease throughout the year.

Fun Facts January 6, 2023

RSVP Time

There are four key questions that our clients have right now:1. What will values do this year and is there any chance of a housing bubble?2. When will mortgage rates drop below 6%?3. Will inflation subside this year?4. Is now a good time to buy or sell? All of these questions will be answered by our Chief Economist Matthew Gardner on February 1st at our annual Market Forecast.  Fun Fact, Windermere is the only real estate brokerage in the United States with a Chief Economist. You can RSVP for Matthew’s lively and informative presentation at ColoradoForecast.com.The Windermere Forecast is at 5:30pm on Wednesday, February 1st at the Fort Collins Marriott.