Hold on and get up to speed!

Hold on and get up to speed!  Homebuyer’s in Boulder County are getting a crash course in rejection. The local real estate market is still running on all cylinders and seems to have a full tank of gas. In April and May there were 789 real estate transactions that closed in Boulder County. 270 closed at less than full price, 98 closed at full price and a staggering 421 closed above full price! Two-thirds of the sales in our market during the past two months closed for full price or more. The average transaction closed for 1.2% above list price. I haven’t seen anything like it during the past twenty-five years.

Looking more closely at the homes that sold above full price is an interesting analysis. One that could come in handy if you find yourself in a situation where you are competing with multiple offers. The big question is how high do I need to offer? Of course every situation is different but here is the recent data.

Sales in Boulder County closing in April and May of 2015 that sold for above asking price:

Price Range – $0 – $250k     Number of sales = 93    average premium paid = 5.5%

Price Range – $250K – $500k     Number of sales = 212    average premium paid = 4.5%

Price Range – $500k – $750k     Number of sales = 74    average premium paid = 5.1%

Price Range – $750k – $1 Mil.     Number of sales = 23    average premium paid = 4.9%

Price Range – > $1 Mil.     Number of sales = 19    average premium paid = 5.0%

Overall if a buyer paid above asking price (presumably a majority of these were in a multiple offer situation) the average they paid was 4.9% above the list.

Here are some other statistics from the data set that could be very helpful.

City of Boulder

• 353 total sales
• The average sale closed for 1.4% above full price
• 157 properties sold for a price exceeding full price.
• The average premium paid in Boulder for those houses that sold above list was 5.9%.
• The lower end of the market is stronger than the upper end.
  • The average home in Boulder that sold at $500,000 or below sold for 3.2% above list price. The average premium paid for those that closed above asking was 6.4%.
  • The average home in Boulder that sold above $500,000 sold for .2% above list price.  The average premium paid for those that closed above asking was 5.5%. There was much more negotiation below asking price in this price range on those that didn’t sell for full price or a premium.

Other Areas

• Louisville
  • Just 43 sales over the past two months. Average sales price was .6% above list price.
  • 18 properties sold above asking price. The average premium paid was 4.4%.
• Lafayette
  • 76 sales over the past two months. Average sales price was 2.2% above list price.
  • 45 properties sold for above asking price. The average premium paid was 5.1%
• Longmont
  • 292 sales over the past two months. Average sales price was 1.5% above list price.
  • 150 properties sold for above asking price. The average premium paid was 4.3%.
• Erie
  • 42 sales over the past two months. Average sales price was 1.1% above list price.
  • 21 properties sold for above asking price. The average premium paid was 3.8%.
• Superior
  • 28 sales over the past two months. Average sales price was 1.2% above list price.
  • 16 properties sold for above asking price. The average premium paid was 3.5%.
• Other areas including Nederland,Niwot, Lyons
  • 56 sales over the past two months. Average sales price was 2.9% below list price.
  • 12 properties sold for above asking price. The average premium paid was 2.3%.

Here are my takeaways from this information.

Over half of the homes that sell are selling for above list price. If you find yourself interested in a house that has multiple offers the average amount that you should expect to pay is around 5%. The median is actually around 4%. So if you had bid 4% over on a home that had multiple bids you would have been successful half of the time over the past two months.  Over the past 10 years the average negotiation on all sales has been 2.8% below list price. This is the first time I can remember that the average sale has gone above list price.