Home Appreciation in Boulder County on the Rise!
According to the OFHEO Home Price Index, Boulder County is bucking the national trend. OFHEO tracks the 291 largest metropolitan areas in terms of appreciation and ranks them by their 1 year appreciation rate. During recent years our area has been lingering in the bottom third of all metro areas. The most recent data (4th Quarter 2007) was released last week and Boulder County is ranked 100 out of 291 with a 1 year increase of 2.89%. Even more impressive is the 4th quarter appreciation of 1.28%, which ranks us 46th in the nation. Below is a graph that shows our appreciation rate (increasing) as well as that of the U.S. as a whole (decreasing).
Here are some of the 1 year returns from other selected areas:
United States .84%
Colorado 1.37%
Boulder 2.89%
Denver -.49%
Fort Collins – Loveland 1.80%
Greeley -4.80%
Grand Junction 12.03%
Colorado Springs .06%
Highest appreciation: Wenatchee, WA 13.67%
Lowest appreciation: Merced, CA -18.98%
Selective data points. Let’s back out and see a 5 – 10 year appreciation chart. The current “trend” upward may simply be a bump before heading farther downward – per the national trend. Boulder County is not impervious to macroeconomic issues.
Hi NF,We definitely are behind the curve since we were ranked #1 in the nation in appreciation back in 1999. Over the past 5 years we have recorded 14.1% appreciation as compared to 41.37% as a national average. We have been stagnant while the rest of the country surged. We have always been on a bit of a different schedule than the coasts. Where I see that we are different right now is that the builders pulled back locally over two years ago and we did not have much or any gain due to speculative investors. Many smart people see our area as one of the first to emerge and the latest OFHEO stats bear that out. Thanks for the comment. Neil