Well, at this point the discussion on the state of our inventory is a lot like the Bill Murray classic movie Groundhog Day, where every day he wakes up to the same day, over and over again. Quarter over quarter this year that's been the story of our inventory position. Our inventory status remains at historic lows, which means nothing but good news for our owners and investors. High demand coupled with historic lows of inventory generally results in positive appreciation of home values, increasing rental rates, and more aggressive list pricing for those who want to sell their homes.
Nothing has really changed for us from that perspective to date. Kevin Chard has been very busy working with several investors identifying and going under contract for their new properties, is currently under contract with an owner selling their property, and have several properties planned to go to market this winter, spring, and summer as soon as existing tenant leases expire. He's also implementing a new cloud based contract application that will increase efficiencies in the sales and purchase process. He's really looking forward to adopting that application, as his real estate volume activity has increased 200% in 2014 over 2013, and 2015 is looking to be an even stronger year over 2014; so any efficiency gain is welcome news indeed.
The Boulder Area Realtor Association, BARA, has recently released their November 2014 Statistics for our region. Once again all the Year-to-Year trends are positive overall for us regionally, with only a few misses here and there. Certainly there's not anything to be alarmed about or would note the beginning of a negative trend signaling an overall change to our market as a whole.
SINGLE FAMILY HOME SALES
Recognized a decrease in Average Days to Contract in all of our cities and regions except for Superior. This is a good metric to see a decrease in, as it shows properties that are priced right and that show well will be under contract in a short period of time. The less time a property is on the market increases the likelihood that its market pricing potential will be maximized, and the sooner an owner can benefit from that sale.
Median Sales Pricing also increased Year-over-Year, which is no surprise given our market conditions over the past year. We've been in and remain in a strong Sellers Market, where low inventory and high demand drive up property appreciation and pricing. Why is the Median Sales Pricing metric much more important over the Average Sales Price metric? Be sure to reference our May 2013 market update for that review on Median vs. Average figures.
Total # Sold is to be expected, as that figure has decreased Year-to-Year due to our historic lows of inventory. This is good news as well, and when that figure starts to increase that will also be beneficial, as there is definitely evidence at this point that local owners would like to sell their property but are challenged to locate and purchase their next home, so they don't sell, which helps in keeping this inventory figure low. It's a nasty negative feedback loop that we're in from that perspective, we'd certainly like to get out of it to insure a higher degree of balance into our market that's an anomaly in our inventory model at this point. Construction projects will help, but as noted in previous updates new construction won't keep pace with current demand, let alone catch up to past demand.
CONDO AND TOWNHOME SALES
Average Days to Contract has decreased except in Louisville and the Mountains.
Median Sales Price has increased except in the Mountains and Plains areas.
Total # Sold has decreased except in Lafayette, Longmont, Superior, Mountains, and the Plains
If you're interested in selling your property and would like to explore your next steps, or would like a Comparative Market Analysis for your property that will include projected market pricing and a Seller's Net Estimate sheet please be sure to contact Kevin Chard and he'll get right to work with you to provide you that reference material. Curious as to what's involved in selling your home or purchasing another investment property? Kevin is available to review your goals and present strategies for you, and is happy to schedule himself accordingly with you after hours or on the weekend.
BARA The Review | December 2014
