Home prices throughout region continue to smash records

Median single-family home sale prices throughout Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley continued in April to smash records set just a month earlier.

In each of the communities that BizWest tracks using data from Information and Real Estate Services LLC, median prices rose from the same month a year ago, and in all but one of the communities, Boulder, the median price of homes that sold in the past month was greater than the median price one month ago. 

Boulder saw its median decline from $1,557,500 in March to $1,517,500 in April, but that’s still 34.89% higher than it was a year ago in April. In all the communities, the medians were drawn from relatively low numbers of properties selling. In Boulder’s case, 84 properties sold.

Estes Park booked the highest dollar gain in its median sales price and blew away April 2020’s median. The 2021 median was $723,500, compared with $639,000 a month ago. The 2021 number was 40.8% higher than the 2020 number for April.

Similarly, the Longmont April median of $569,275 was 26.2% higher than 2020 in April and $76,275 higher than the March median of $493,000. Like the other communities, Longmont’s prices were affected by the lack of supply — just 96 active listings in Longmont. Eighty four properties sold in April.

Fort Collins posted a $511,450 median price in April, up from $495,000 in March and up 14.9% over April 2020. Number of properties listed and selling each month has been steadily climbing — 256 sold in April compared with 239 in March — but apparently not nearly enough to satiate the appetite of homebuyers looking to get into the Fort Collins market.

Greeley’s April median of $365,000 was up from $354,250 in March and 7.4% above April 2020. A total of 129 properties sold in April in Greeley.

Loveland/Berthoud, of all the cities in the region, saw the median increase most modestly, from $430,000 in March to $435,000 in April. Yet, the April number was up 9.3% from the same month year prior. 

“I have two words to describe the situation: Crazy Town,” said Lauren Hansen, CEO of IRES, the multiple listing service in the region. “It’s on fire.”

She said that even in Boulder, where the median declined from the month prior, the monthly sales dollar volume was practically off the charts at 412.97% up from the same month a year prior. In April 2020, $33.5 million in home transactions were recorded; this year saw $171.7 million.

She said most communities that IRES reported in Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley charted record median sales prices except for Boulder, which maintained its median well above $1.5 million. Loveland’s April figure was also less than the $442,500 recorded in January.

Hansen said there does not appear to be any end in sight to the ever-escalating median prices. Noting that Colorado is in peak season for housing sales, she said pent up demand will continue to drive record prices into May “and maybe May and June.” 

Hansen said the region offers “high amenities and therefore high demand, so I don’t think this is a bubble. This isn’t going to plummet.”

© 2021 BizWest Media LLC

on Facebook on LinkedIn