2009 – Great Recession took toll on Boulder Valley

The Boulder Valley was not immune to the downturn in the national economy.

Many local economic indicators worsened in 2009 — from higher foreclosures and bankruptcies to lower home prices and employment.

While the Boulder Valley remained better off than the rest of the nation in many ways, the Great Recession still produced harm here.

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In real estate, foreclosure filings hit year-total records by October. Through November, 1,616 foreclosures had been filed in Boulder and Broomfield counties — up 38 percent from a year ago.

The area’s broadest measure of housing prices from the Federal Housing Finance Agency fell for the first time in 21 years. Boulder County homes depreciated 0.56 year-over-year during the third quarter. The home-price drop was the first since a 1.03 percent annual decline during the second quarter of 1988, and only the seventh quarterly annual drop in Boulder County history since the figures were first tracked in 1979.

Personal and business bankruptcies rose to recent record levels, eclipsing more than 1,100 by the end of November — up about 7 percent from a year ago.

Boulder County’s unemployment rate rose to its high for the year — and highest since the tech bust — to 6.6 percent in June, before improving to 5.3 percent in the latter half of the year. Broomfield County’s unemployment rate rose to a 7.6 percent high in June, before improving to 6.4 percent in the latter half of the year.

There was some good news for the local economy by fall, as more than $140 million in federal stimulus dollars made its way to the Boulder Valley as of Sept. 30. Most of the local share from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act went toward research work at the University of Colorado and projects at the numerous federally funded laboratories in the area, such as the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Local governments, low-income housing and small businesses also received money.