National Association of Realtors: Boulder among 10 highest-priced metros

BOULDER — Highlighting the ongoing housing affordability crisis along parts of the Front Range, the Boulder metropolitan area has been named the seventh most expensive residential real estate market in the country for the fourth quarter of 2021.

According to a new report from the National Association of Realtors, the top 10 priciest metros, along with their median price and quarterly growth rate are:

• San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California ($1,675,000; 19.6%)
• San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California. ($1,310,000; 14.9%)
• Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, California ($1,150,000; 23%)
• Urban Honolulu, Hawaii ($1,054,500; 16.8%)
• San Diego-Carlsbad, California. ($845,000; 14.2%) 
• Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, California ($797,900; 15.9%) 
• Boulder, Colorado ($775,100; 17.2%) 
• Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington ($700,000; 13.9%) 
• Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Florida ($685,000; 21.2%)
• Nassau County-Suffolk County, New York (644,600; 9%).

The Boulder metropolitan area includes the entirety of Boulder County. Zooming into Boulder city limits, median prices are even higher — $1,104,955 in January, according to data from Loveland-based multiple-listing service Information and Real Estate Services LLC.

“The strength of price gains are associated with the strength of the local job market, but the escalating prices took a toll on home shoppers, compelling many to come up with extra cash, and forcing others to delay making a purchase altogether,” Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said in the group’s Metropolitan Median Area Prices and Affordability report. “A number of families, especially would-be first-time buyers, are increasingly being forced out of the market, and this is why supply is critical to expanding homeownership opportunity.”

Fort Collins joins Boulder on the list of metropolitan areas where a family needs more than $100,000 to afford a 10% down payment mortgage.

“While mounting housing costs were problematic for the entire year, affordability worsened in the fourth quarter compared to one year ago,” the report said. “Making the marketplace even more of a challenge was the certainty of increasing mortgage rates.”

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