We’ve Broken Through!

by Neil Kearney | May 23, 2012 | Boulder County Housing Trends, Statistics

It’s been very busy time in the Boulder real estate market (unfortunately not much time to update my blog)!  Remember when a buyer needed to see a house the same day it came on the market?  Well, we are back in that mode.  Over the weekend I was working with two clients and both were interested in a property they viewed.  Immediately after showing the properties and learning of my clients interest I called the listing agent to learn what I could about the situation.  In both cases there was already an offer on the table and my clients had just a few hours in which to submit an offer in order to be considered equally with the first one.  Talk about pressure.

The cycle for buyers is needlessly to say very fast.  The cycle has also quickened for sellers.  In the recent past, a seller would put their home on the market, wait a few weeks and see if anyone would come.  Hopefully an offer would be made in a reasonable time like a month or two.  Now if you don’t have multiple showings on the first few days (one recent listing of mine had 9 on the first day) you know that you either missed the price or that there isn’t much of a market for your home.  If it isn’t sold within a few weeks your old news, hoping new buyers come to the market.

The graph below shows the last three years of market activity on a weekly basis.  Specifically, it shows the number of homes that went under contract during each week.  The green line is 2012 and shows a big breakthrough in activity.  The red line is 2010 and shows the big spike in activity caused by the tax credit.  We have now broken through that invisible barrier.  How long will it last?  I expect it to start slowing in June but the market conditions have definitely shifted.

Boulder Real Estate Market Update – Sales Up 28% in April!

by Neil Kearney | May 6, 2012 | Boulder County Housing Trends, Statistics

The spring real estate market in Boulder is in full swing! In fact the market has swung so far that it must have had a big push! Sales are up 16.5% year-to-date in all areas of Boulder County and more impressively, sales improved 28.5% from last April. More importantly, the mood of the market has shifted. There is a buzz in the market. As an example, as I write this on Sunday night at 8:15, I just got a call from a Realtor whose client saw one of my new listings hit an internet site and she was afraid that she had missed something. I told her that it would be on the MLS by mid-week. She was relieved and was working hard to make sure that she was working for her clients. Buying a home right now in Boulder County is not just a once in awhile thing, it has to be an ongoing effort. In many market segments it’s a race.

The other eye-popping statistic in the slideshow above is that as of May 1st, 40% of the active listings in Boulder County already had an accepted contract. This is over double the rate of a normal/good market. Combine this with the fact that the number of listings is down 10% from last year, and you get a sense of lack on the part of buyers. This is good news for sellers.

The luxury market has largely not participated in the strong market activity this spring. As of today, sales are down 3 units year to date for properties over $1.5 million and just 8% of listings are under contract.

Now the true test of the market is the longevity of the strong market activity. I have been saying for over a year that there is pent up demand waiting for the time when the market is “good”. Maybe now is that time.