Home sales have an October to remember

Driven by the best October on record, local residential real estate sales are now up 2 percent over last year and the median price has hit a record $262,500, up 5 percent from this time last year.

October sales were up 18.6 percent compared with last year and the median price of $266,750 was up 8 percent. From a low point of 983 homes sold in 2010, home sales in October 2014 totaled a record 1,439.

For the year to date, all areas are experiencing substantial price increases ranging from 5.1 percent in Boulder County to 11.6 percent in Weld County, and Weld is leading the way with a 14.6 percent increase in the number of homes sold. The demand for homes is evidenced by the “days to offer” which is down to 40 from 49 at this point last year.

The biggest concern in the market is the limited number of homes for sale. At the end of October there were 3,248 active listings, down almost 10 percent from the end of September. We expect a demand for 7,500 homes over the next six months so the supply is equal to 2.6 months when a balanced market is considered to be six months of inventory.

With two months to go until the end of the year, we are on a pace for a record 19,000 home sales, and with an average price approaching $325,000 the total volume should be around $6.15 billion, 7 percent over last year and the highest volume of home sales ever achieved in this market.

A quick look at the Denver metro market shows that the inventory is down 10 percent also and the average price is up 7 percent from last year to $323,750. Days to offer were down to 34 from 45 a year earlier and home sales in October were up 2.9 percent compared with last year. All of these figures are very close to what is happening in our market except for the 18.6 percent sales increase we rang up compared with October last year.

For the next four months of November through February, we expect home sales to average 1,200 per month or 300 per week. This compares with annual sales, which average 400 per week, so there is not nearly the falloff that most people think.

Dave Pettigrew is a real estate broker at at Ascent Real Estate Professionals, 2700 S. College Ave., Fort Collins. Contact him at FCRealtor@msn.com or 970-282-9305.

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