CAR has bullish housing outlook | Inside Real Estate News

Highlights:

• The Colorado Association of Realtors releases 2Q statewide report.
• All corners of the state looking good.
• Bullish trend expected to continue.

All corners of Colorado?s housing market enjoyed a robust second quarter, from the Denver area to the mountains, to agricultural rural pockets, according to a report released today by the Colorado Association of Realtors.

?Overall the picture for housing in Colorado is quite good with increased numbers of sales, higher median sales prices, and less time on the market ? regardless of which part of the market you consider,? according to the report.

?Lender-mediated sales as a percentage of overall sales declined in every area indicating further strengthening and stabilizing of the housing market,? the report continued.

Good Times

The CAR expects the good times to continue

?With higher prices comes some decline in affordability and with small inventories in most regions, competition for the best properties will likely continue,? according to the report.

Sales of single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses increased 16 percent in Colorado in the second quarter compared with the second quarter of 2012, according to the Quarterly Market Statistical Report released today by the CAR.

Here are some of its findings:

• In total, there were 28,068 closings in the second quarter, 16 percent more than in the second quarter of 2012.
• Year-to-date, sales rose almost 17 percent, compared with the first six months of 2012.
• New listings also increased about 16 percent to 42,348 with growth in new townhouse-condo listings outpacing single-family homes.
• The median sales prices statewide rose just over 8 percent to $260,000 for single-family homes and $170,000 for townhouses and condominiums compared to the first quarter 2012.
• Days on the market continued a downward trend, down 25 percent for single-family homes and down 29 percent for townhomes and condos.
• There were 33,256 active listings statewide, at the end of the second quarter, representing a 4.6-month inventory for single-family and a 4.1-month inventory for townhouses-condos.

?These figures are very encouraging, continuing trends we reported last quarter and in some instances showing even stronger improvement in our regional markets,? said CAR spokesperson, Karen Levine.

?Beginning this quarter we are able to report results separately for single-family and townhouses-condos. Drilling down even further on the statistics and market intricacies will help consumers better understand market trends and assist our Realtor members in serving both sellers and buyers successfully,? Levine continued. ?In both categories we are seeing more sales, increased median pricing and fewer days on the market.?

Meanwhile, sales of lender-mediated properties (properties owned by banks and other mortgage lenders) declined strongly as a percent of all sales, adding to the sense of recovery.?All regions of the state saw declines with the metro and mountain regions experiencing the largest drops, quarter to quarter.

Affordability

The CAR Housing Affordability Index, a newer statistical measure for Colorado?s housing market, showed declines in all areas of the state for both single-family and townhouse-condo listings.

This pattern should be expected as housing prices move up unless personal income increases at a comparable rate.

An index of 120 means the median household income in that area was 120 percent of what is necessary to qualify for the median-priced home under prevailing interest rates.

A higher number is usually interpreted as greater housing affordability. Higher values generally benefit buyers whereas lower values help sellers.

The greatest affordability during the second quarter of 2013 was in the townhouse-condo market in the Northwest Region, with an index number of 220. In comparison, the rates in the Mountain Region were 91 for single-family homes and 107 for townhouses-condos, the lowest readings for the quarter.

In addition to cumulative statewide statistics, CAR has released six regional reports:? Metro Denver Region

Sales of single-family homes in this region rose a modest 3 percent while townhouse-condo sales increased by more than 20 percent. The median sales price jumped 9 percent for single-family to $284,000 and nearly 13 percent to almost $164,000 for townhouses-condos.

One of the consequences of improved prices is that the Affordability Index for Metro Denver has dropped steadily during 2012 and into the second quarter 2013. By this measure alone, condos are significantly more affordable in the Metro area than single-family homes. This area of the state sees the fewest days on the market (45 for each kind of property) and experienced the largest drop in this measure quarter to quarter. The quarter closed with 12,450 active listings representing slightly less than a three-month supply.

Mountain Region (Garfield, Grand, Gunnison, Jackson, Pitkin, Routt, San Miguel and Summit counties.)

The number of new single-family listings increased 6 percent, while townhouse-condo new listings declined by 1 percent.

Sales increased for townhouses-condos by 7 percent and fell 1 percent for single-family homes.

The median sales price rose 14 percent to $397,000 for single-family and 12 percent to $334,250 for townhouses-condos in this region, which includes Colorado?s ski resort communities.

With just under 3,800 active listings, this region has approximately 13 months? supply of inventory which, in these areas of the state, is not unusual.

Lender-mediated property sales as a proportion of all sales declined significantly to 16 percent. Days on the market dropped more than 10 percent for single-family properties to 154, but rose 4 percent to 175 for townhouses-condos.

Northeast Region (Boulder, Larimer, Logan, Morgan, Weld counties)

This region of Colorado continues to see double-digit growth in new listings , up 15 percent, while sales were up 16 percent.

The median sales price rose 6 percent.

Both the quarterly and year to date new listings of single-family homes matched the rate of growth for townhouses-condos.

The number of townhouse-condo sales increased slightly more than single-family though the median price increase was significantly greater for single-family (9 percent versus 4 percent). Days on the market are identical at 81, an average 25 percent drop over the same quarter last year. The region had nearly ,6000 homes available at the end of the quarter, representing a 4-5 month supply.

Northwest Region (Delta, Hinsdale, Mesa, Moffat, Montrose, Pitkin, Rio Blanca counties.)

This region had a sixth consecutive quarter of increased new listings, up 14 percent compared to the second quarter of 2012 attributable entirely to an increase in single-family listings as townhouse-condo listings remained flat.

Single-family sales rose by 6 percent and the median price on those homes increased 3 percent to $175,000. The townhouse-condo market did not fare as well on sales, as they were down 11 percent. The median price, on the 66 properties sold, however, rose 12 percent to $141,225 compared to the same quarter last year.

This area of the state experienced another large drop in lender-mediated sales, down 27 percent and enjoyed the highest Affordability Index at 222 for townhouses-condos.

Southeast Region (Baca, Chaffee, Crowley, Custer, El Paso, Freemont, Huerfano, Las Animas, Otero, Pueblo and Teller counties)

Southeast Colorado home sales increased 19 percent to 4,346 during the second quarter of 2013 compared to 2012. New listings increased by 17 percent and the median price rose 7 percent.

New listings of townhouses and condos outpaced single-family homes, 30 percent versus 16 percent, as did sales, which rose by 33 percent, compared with 18 percent.

The median price for single-family homes rose to $200,000 and for townhouses-condos, to $136,000.

Days on the market are among the best in the state with drops of 16 percent to 84 days for single-family homes and 23 percent to 72 days for townhouses-condos. There were about 8,400 properties available in this region at the end of the quarter representing a seven-month supply.

Southwest Region (Alamosa, Archuleta, Conejos, Costilla, Dolores, Hinsdale, La Plata, Mineral, Montezuma, Saguache and San Juan counties.)

The Southwest Region experienced the largest increase in the state for sales , rising 22 percent rise, while the median price of a home rose 22 percent. There were 562 properties sold during the second quarter.

Though the number of townhouse-condo sales increased more significantly than single-family homes quarter to quarter, the median price for those properties actually declined 13 percent to $178,300.

The single-family home sales, which represented 85 percent of the quarterly sales, increased in median value by 30 percent to $249,500.

Days on the market dropped for single-family homes by 10 percent and rose 2 percent for townhomes and condos.

With more than 2,500 properties available at the end of the quarter, there are sufficient single-family listings to last 16 months and townhouse-condo listings to last 12 months.

CAR?s ?Quarterly Market Statistical Reports are prepared by 10K Research and Marketing, a Minneapolis-based real estate technology company, and are based on data provided by Multiple Listing Services in Colorado.

The current second quarter ?2013 reports represent approximately 91 percent of all MLS-listed residential real estate transactions in the state. The metrics do not include ?For Sale by Owner? transactions or all new construction.

Have a story idea or real estate tip? Contact John Rebchook at? JRCHOOK@gmail.com. InsideRealEstateNews.com is sponsored by Universal Lending, Land Title Guarantee and 8z Real Estate. To read more articles by John Rebchook, subscribe to the Colorado Real Estate Journal.

Source: http://insiderealestatenews.com/car-reports-17-jump-in-home-sales/

mohamed sanu chris polk rueben randle mike trout ryan broyles st louis blues bulls