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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
Picking up Steam
In a market that seems abnormal to a lot of people we notice a very normal trend right now. As we head into Spring, activity is picking up.
This happens pretty much every Spring and it is happening again.
When we measure the number of properties under contract, which are set to close in the next 30 to 45 days, we see that it is significantly higher than just one month ago.
Bottom line, many more properties went under contract in March than in February. Specifically:
Larimer County is up 27% month over month.
Weld County is up 16%.
Metro Denver is up 18%.
This increase is noteworthy especially considering interest rates dropped only slightly during the month.
We expect this trend of increased sales activity to continue, as it normally does, through the Spring and into the early Summer.
Caught Up
We’ve been waiting for June to catch up. It finally happened (almost).
Back in April, real estate activity was significantly limited and the showing of property was restricted which caused the number of closed properties in May and early June to be much lower than last year.
Bottom line, fewer properties going under contract in April caused fewer closings 30 to 45 days later.
Closed properties in May were down compared to 2019 by 44% in Northern Colorado and 43% in Metro Denver.
Then activity jumped significantly in May. The number of properties going under contract was way up compared to last year.
We’ve been wondering when we would see this sales activity reflected in the number of closed properties.
Well, it finally happened (almost).
The number of closings so far in June compared to the same time period through June of 2019 is only down 1.8% in Northern Colorado and 1.6% in Metro Denver.
In both markets, there are only a handful of closings separating activity in June 2020 versus June 2019.
By the end of the month, when all the transactions are tallied up, we expect that June of this year will out pace June of last year in terms of number of transactions.
This is significant not only because of COVID-19, but also because of the reduced inventory compared to last year. Quite simply, there are fewer homes to buy.
All of this speaks to the health and resiliency of the Front Range market.
