2010 Boulder County Sales Recap
February 15th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
The Boulder Area Realtor Association recently posted sales statistics for last month and I thought I’d analyze their sales statistics from last year to give you a general overview of how we’re entering 2011. Be sure to check out the paragraphs at the end of this post to see what this means for 2011. Here are 10 of the most notable data points for last year:
Single Family Homes:
1) Every community in Boulder County had a Median Sales Price INCREASE compared to the prior year, with the exception of Lafayette that had a slight decrease. Whoa!!
2) The wonderful community of Louisville led the way with an 11 percent increase in Median Sales Price in 2010.
3) Average Days to Contract was down across the board with the exception of Erie which increased by 21 percent.
4) The total number of homes sold increased overall with the biggest increase in the Boulder County plains at close to 40 percent. The total number of homes sold in Superior decreased by 15 percent.
5) The Average Sales Price in Louisville rose by 12 percent, followed by rises in Average Sales Price in Longmont at 6 percent and Broomfield at 7 percent.
Condo and Townhomes:
1) The total number of sales was down 7 percent. See FHA note below!
2) The communites most affected by the downturn in condo/townhome sales were: Louisville and Superior in the mid 30 percent range and Lafayette and Broomfield around 15 percent.
3) The Median Sales Price was down less than 10 percent or slightly up across the board. Louisville had the largest decrease around 10 percent. Boulder, Broomfield, and Superior had modest increases of near 5 percent.
4) Average Days to Contract was down in the following communities: Broomfield 20 percent and Lafayette and Longmont in the mid 20 percent range.
5) Average Days to Contract was up in Boulder by 45 percent, although the Average Sales Price held steady compared to the prior year.
What does this mean for 2011?
This is a very interesting snapshot of the market data for the prior year. It’s quite a positive story that almost EVERY community in Boulder County had a Single Family Residence median sales price INCREASE for all 12 months in 2010. However, the condo/townhome market is getting hurt by the stringent FHA and FNMA owner occupancy rules that are inhibiting a lot of potential buyers (those requiring FHA loans with 3.5% down payment) from entering the market. Read more about this here.
Although sellers that are selling homes in communities above the median price range aren’t generally happy about the sales price, the median and below median price ranges are weathering the storm. Real estate investors are starting to come off the sidelines and are becoming more active. There is also a large inventory of multi-family properties. Multi-family prices, including cap rates and GRMs, are still trending downward. It’s a great time to be real estate investor!
Now, more than ever, it’s important for consumers to engage a Realtor that knows the local market and how it compares regionally and nationally. National real estate news doesn’t often apply to the local real estate landscape, and even within Boulder County, data can vary significantly across the various communities.
Do you have more questions about the Boulder County real estate market? Feel free to start a discussion on our Facebook page!
