According to Dr. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), 2010 will show a national increase in home sales of 15%. Dr. Yun released his data at the recently held 2009 NAR Conference & Expo in San Diego.
For Northern Colorado, the “IRES Economic & Market Watch Report, 3rd Quarter 2009″ projects that home prices and home sales will remain stable moving from the 3rd quarter to the 4th quarter of 2009. Larimer County, home to Fort Collins and Loveland, had an average home sale price of $260,500 in the third quarter, with a total of 1,158 homes sold. In Weld County, home to the Greeley metro area, the average price of homes sold was $189,100, with a total of 866 homes sold.
The projected increase in 2010 home sales is in large part credited to the extension of the home buyer tax credit that was recently extended for home sales through August 30, 2010. Keller Williams released a special edition video that details the plan for first-time home buyers as well as existing home owners moving up in the market. You can watch the detailed video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMzTpn3FvA8
Source: Realtor Magazine, “Yun: 2010 Sales to Rise 15 Percent,” by Robert Freedman, 11/13/2009 http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2009111301;
Source: IRES “Economic and Market Watch Report, 3rd Quarter 2009”
Two critical measures of a real estate market are the Month’s Supply of Inventory (MSI) and Days On Market (DOM). The MSI is an estimate of how long it will take for all the homes in a market area to be sold, or absorbed, based on the number of homes currently on the market and the rate that homes have sold in the past. The lower the better for sellers. DOM is the average number of days it has taken homes to sell in a market in a given time period. Again, the lower the better for sellers.
The graph below shows the change in MSI for Loveland, Greeley and Fort Collins from 9/1/2007-9/30/2009:
While DOM has not dropped for all three cities, the MSI has lowered significantly across the board and points to a more balanced real estate market. Source: Brokers Metrics, “Months Supply of Inventory (MSI) 9/1/2007-9/30/2009” for Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley.
