2020 Boulder County Statistics

Compiled for the entire 2020. Not a lot of surprises here, if you bought or sold in 2020 you could feel these stats - low inventory, high demand. We're expecting much of the same for 2021.

Boulder County has averaged 5.5% appreciation since 1978, 5.6% in the past decade. If you'd like to see what your neighborhood has been doing and get a free, no-obligation opinion of value for your house just let me know. We can also talk about the costs associated with selling and how much you can expect to walk away with should you decide to sell.

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I would love to help you with your real estate journey. 

Please contact me at 303-917-7143 or robbin@elevatedrealestate.com

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2019 Boulder County Market Data

Trying to figure out if you should buy or sell this year? Well, you know the line is, "The best time to buy real estate is yesterday." Still, it's good to get some context so you know what to expect. Let's start with the number of listings on the Boulder MLS for the past six years:

The graph above shows the listings climbing over the last few years. You can also see the seasonal swing of the market with the largest inventory available in the summer. Still, people buy and sell all year long. If you're a buyer in the winter this could mean less buyers to compete against and possibly price discounts.

Drill down to just the past year to see the inventory at all of the price ranges. The glut of the properties sit between $350,000 - $700,000. It was also clearly a seller's market with 1-3 months of inventory, except for luxury homes over $2,000,000. A balanced market is typically 4-6 months of inventory, which we haven't seen in most Denver metro markets since the recession.

I rely on stats to confirm my gut - there's no substitute for actually getting into houses and knowing the market one works in. Being part of a large brokerage firm and hearing my colleagues' experiences gives me a hyper-local perspective. I know which areas are still seeing higher appreciation and which would be the most vulnerable in a recession, which would be most affected by new oil and gas rules and which have strict building codes. And if you ask a question I can't answer I have 120 other agents to talk with. Let me know if I can send you any additional information!
  

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I would love to help you with your real estate journey. 

Please contact me at 303-917-7143 or robbin@elevatedrealestate.com

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Paper and Plastic and Cans...Oh My

Our  own Boulder County Eco-Cycle is suffering from an industry-wide slump. Demand from China is down, and paper prices have dropped by half in the last 5 years. Currently, it costs facilities money to recycle glass, and while the amount of ultra-thin plastics keeps increasing there is very little money to be made recycling it. And due to the ever-expanding use of technology and online news consumption, there has been a significant drop in highly-profitable newsprint available.

All of these factors threaten the recycling facilities, which see a never-ending supply of incoming material to process. Eco-cycle, a non-profit with 67 employees that also maintain outreach and education programs, has had to dip into it's reserves to cover profit shortfalls since 2011. Unlike other facilities that have stopped recycling costly materials, Eco-cycle has expanded the list of items it receives through CHaRM, the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials. The organization cites a priority to divert waste from going to the landfills over just making money.

Eco-cycle will be obtaining a few new pieces of equipment this coming up year that should help their processes, including a second fiber bailer for cardboard, which is in good supply and highly-profitable to recycle. In addition, instead of paying rebates to haulers dropping off single-stream residential recyclables, they will be charged a nominal fee.

Eco-cycle states that there is no immediate threat to the organization during this low point in the market. Even so, it's important to remember to support the things you appreciate lest they go away - so put your money where your mouth is. If you'd like to make a donation to the organization, you can do so HERE.

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I would love to help you with your real estate journey. 

Please contact me at 303-917-7143 or robbin@stauferteam.com

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Bradburn Sales Update

Bradburn Village is one of my favorite neighborhoods, not only because of the style of architecture and small-town feel, but also because of it's walkability to restaurants, parks, grocery stores, schools and retail such as salon services, dentistry and yoga.

For the past few years, neighborhood sales have increased in number with strong summer and fall seasons. Annual home sales (both attached and detached properties) for 2012, 2013, and 2014 have been 45, 38 and 42 respectively, more than a 40% increase over the previous few years. Don't expect it to keep that pace, however; further price increases will likely be smaller now that many areas have regained their pre-recession housing values.

The speed of the market this past year is reflected in the Bradburn neighborhood stats, as well. For 2015 to date, the average days to offer is 12 (attached) and 14 (detached), a 37% and 67% decrease over the same time last year, respectively. Seller leverage was also reflected in the sales prices and concessions offered to buyers. In 2014, homes sold for an average of 98.3% (attached) and 98.5% (detached) of the listing price. In 2015, the averages have risen to 100.7% and 99.3% for the first three quarters. Concessions, or credit given by sellers to buyers at closing, decreased from 40% of all transactions in 2014 to 18% for the same time period this year (Jan - Sept).

With that said, we have to keep in mind that Bradburn is still a small slice of the Westminster pie. One or two homes can swing the data severely in one direction or another, so it's important to look at longer timelines and historical trends. You can see in this chart below that, although the price per square foot can go up or down quite a bit each quarter, the trend lines for both attached and detached houses are headed up.

Price per SQFT, 2014-2015    (source: IRESis)

Tracking this data is important to determine local appreciation and the current value of homes in this neighborhood. If you'd like a no-obligation Comparative Market Analysis for your home, don't hesitate to contact me. This is a great time to get your ducks in a row for a 2016 listing!

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I would love to help you with your real estate journey. 

Please contact me at 303-917-7143 or robbin@stauferteam.com

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