| Boulder, Colorado home prices are on the rise... that's | | | | per square foot data, which reflects an increase of |
| the headline I read in an article today. Looking a little | | | | about 7.5% in Boulder over the past 12 months. |
| deeper it appeared as though they were simply | | | | However, there are so many factors that affect the |
| comparing results from June of 2009 with June 2010, | | | | price per square foot - particularly in Boulder, CO, |
| which may or may not present the whole story. | | | | where there can be wide variances in age, lot size, |
| There's a saying in Boulder that it's a "... great place to | | | | quality, etc., that this indicator is hardly reliable across |
| live, work and play"; homes in Boulder have also | | | | the board. With the price reductions that we've seen in |
| historically been a very sound real estate investment, | | | | some of the higher-end homes, we may be seeing |
| so we wanted to take a closer look at how the | | | | those homes that sell influence this particular indicator |
| Boulder real estate market has performed recently. | | | | and, again, skew the results. |
| Our analysis is based on data from IRES as of 8/17 | | | | Our inventory in Boulder tends to be seasonal and the |
| 2010, and includes single-family resale statistics across | | | | past 12 months has been no exception. The overall |
| all price ranges during the previous 12 months. The first | | | | volume of units for sale is down by 0.7%, but overall |
| indicator we looked at was the median price of a sold | | | | that part of the market has not see any wild swings. |
| listing during this period, which reflected a relatively flat | | | | The number of units under contract and the number |
| market with a decrease of 0.4%. The average price | | | | sold are both up, 1.28% and 25.7%, respectively, which |
| was actually up about 8.5% but we believe the fact | | | | is a good sign. And, the days on market, or DOM, has |
| that the average is more heavily influenced by | | | | consistently come down over the past 12 months to |
| extremes than the median, makes this a less reliable | | | | an average of about 70 days at the end of July, the |
| number. The real performance is likely much closer to | | | | lowest level in over a year. |
| the median. | | | | You can review individual charts reflecting Boulder |
| The dynamics of the Boulder market over at least the | | | | home prices using this link. In general, what we see |
| last 12 months has been that the higher-end market | | | | right now in Boulder is a real estate market that has |
| (say $1M and over), has underperformed and tends to | | | | not been immune to the broader economic downturn, |
| skew overall numbers such as days on market, | | | | but one that has also performed better than many |
| sales-to-list-price ratio, absorption, etc., down. There are | | | | markets across the country. It's important to |
| several years' worth of inventory in that segment right | | | | remember that different segments of the Boulder |
| now, for example, far different from the lower-end | | | | market reflect varying results, but Boulder can still tout |
| market. | | | | the fact that it's a great place to call home! |
| Sometimes buyers and sellers will ask about the price | | | | |