As good as it gets? (Denver, Colorado Springs: real estate market, university, calculated)

[DrDog]

Originally Posted by Westbound and Down

Sorry, but the writer of the cited article has no insight whatsoever into indications predictive of a local recession looming. Amazon trucks? Good grief...

So true.

[DrDog]

Originally Posted by BornintheSprings

I thought Republicans were going to bring back high paying jobs that only require a sixth grade education?

Just get a government job.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by BornintheSprings

I thought Republicans were going to bring back high paying jobs that only require a sixth grade education?

That would be the current set of cabinet officials.

[DrDog]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Sorry, that trillion dollars was shoveled upstairs to those who didn't need a cent.

True. Never been a time or a place where a select few aren’t stealing from the masses.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by DrDog

True. Never been a time or a place where a select few aren’t stealing from the masses.

What makes it an art form these days is "they" have half the masses thinking it's just fine. No money left for the trillion dollar infrastructure plan....

[TCHP]

Everything goes in cycles. As MFBE says, its not about if, its about when. Colo Spgs is a fickle place, as Hazelhurst points out. Sometimes it bucks trends, some times it starts them, sometimes it lags way behind. There are a nearly endless list of factors that may or may not have an impact.

[DrDog]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

What makes it an art form these days is "they" have half the masses thinking it's just fine. No money left for the trillion dollar infrastructure plan....

As opposed to the old days when they had 90%?

[Vision67]

Colorado Springs cost of living above national average for first time since 2000

https://gazette.com/business/colorad...4ed2b309c.html

"Routinely ranking at the top of national lists for desirability and quality of life, a new survey shows Colorado Springs no longer can use a low cost of living as an additional drawing card.

The city’s cost of living climbed in the second quarter above the national average for the first time in more than 19 years, according to a quarterly survey by the Council for Community and Economic Research. The group’s cost of living for the Springs in the April-to-June quarter was 100.9% of the national average, the highest local costs have been when compared with the national average since the first quarter of 2000.

“The rising cost of living we’ve experienced reflects the increased popularity of living in Colorado Springs,” said Dirk Draper, CEO of the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC. “Following national attention as a great place to live, more people want to live here, and prices have increased. We continue to be competitive in the quality of our workforce, quality of our education system and quality of life.”

The local cost of living has risen steadily since the beginning of 2016, when costs in the Springs were 92.6% of the national average.

While all six major categories in the cost of living index have risen since then, the biggest increases were in utilities, health care and miscellaneous goods and services — and health care and miscellaneous costs were above the national average.

Even as costs have gone up, wages haven’t kept pace. The average weekly wage for El Paso County remains 13.2% below the national average — just a slight improvement from 15.9% below the national average at the beginning of 2016 — despite local wages growing 17.2% to $1,028 during the same period, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“The unfortunate part of this is that wages are so far below the national average, and there is still a perception that Colorado Springs is a less expensive place to live,” said Tatiana Bailey, director of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Economic Forum.

“It was just a matter of time that our costs would catch up and pass the national average because we are in a state with so much growth.”

The local cost of living remained above the national average throughout most of the late 1990s, peaking at 104% in the second quarter of 1997. Two major recessions pulled the cost of living to as low as 91.8% of the national average in the second quarter of 2011, but costs began to escalate as the local economy rebounded.

“It doesn’t surprise me that our cost of living is increasing at a faster rate than the rest of the nation, given the robust growth in the Colorado Springs economy,” said Tom Binnings, senior partner in Summit Economics, a local research and consulting firm.

“It makes perfect sense that the last time this happened was in 2000, at the end of the 1990s growth cycle.”

The biggest cost drivers in the past year were utility costs, which rose from 90.5% of the national average to 97.1%; health care costs, which jumped from 103.4% to 110.6%; and miscellaneous goods and services, which increased from 98.3% to 104%. Grocery, housing and transportation costs fell when compared with the national average and remained slightly below average.

The cost of living in the Springs still remains below Denver, where costs are 110.8% of the national average, though costs there edged lower during the past year when compared with the nation. Costs in Pueblo rose to 94.5% of the national average from 92.2%. The state’s other metropolitan areas — Boulder, Fort Collins, Grand Junction and Greeley — were not included in the survey.

The council’s index doesn’t measure inflation. Instead, it compares prices for 57 goods and services used or purchased by households where middle managers live in 255 metro areas. It’s designed to help managers compare living costs when moving to another city. Harlingen, Texas, had the nation’s lowest cost of living at 73.8% of the national average, while New York had the highest at 242.5% of the average."

[TCHP]

As I've said many times, Cos of the 1990s was a very different place than it has been over the last 19 years.

[Vision67]

https://gazette.com/business/colorad...88c77181f.html

Colorado Springs sales tax revenue decline in November largest in 2 years


"Colorado Springs sales tax revenue from November fell by the biggest percentage in more than two years, but the drop mostly resulted from an unusually large payment a year earlier, the city's Finance Department reported Friday.

Sales tax collected in December, which is based on November sales, fell 2.4% from a year earlier to $13.8 million. That's the biggest percentage drop since a 3.8% decline in November 2017. However, the city said more than half of the decrease resulted from "an exceptional filing in the prior year from a business that sells computer hardware and software," triggered by an error in the retailer's reporting earlier in 2018.

The revenue total for the month also was distorted by "timing issues" stemming from a few sales tax license holders getting extensions to file late reports, reducing the monthly total.

Several large building materials and computer software and hardware vendors, though, reported lower sales. Sales tax from building material retailers in November fell $275,166, or 16.8%, from a year earlier, accounting for nearly all of the decline not credited to the other factors. Housing construction was down 37.5% in November.

Tatiana Bailey, director of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Economic Forum, said the sales tax numbers are consistent with other indicators that reflect "a slowing in the economy that began last fall and has become more apparent now. Job openings are declining, and that tells me that business sentiment is not as high as it had been. Now you see that spreading to areas like sales of business machine and housing. But the sky isn't falling — I would much rather see a slowing than a downturn."

Collections from November sales from retailers in nine of 15 categories fell from a year earlier with grocery stores and furniture, appliances and electronics retailers off 9.3% and 7.7%, respectively. The biggest increases were in business services, hotels and medical marijuana dispensaries, which combined generate less revenue than building materials.

Sales tax revenue through November was up 3% from the same period the year before to nearly $159 million. Collections weakened during the second half of 2019 compared to 2018, when hailstorms in June and July 2018 boosted new vehicle sales.

The city levies a 2% tax on purchases other than food and prescription drugs, which funds more half of city government for public safety, parks and other services. The city also collects special sales taxes for road repairs, public safety and trails, open space and parks that raised more than $90 million through November.

Other news from the report:

• Revenue from the city's tax on hotel rooms and rental cars in November surged nearly 20% to $466,619 from a year before; revenue through November was up 5.9% to $7.12 million.

• Revenue for November from the city's use tax — paid on purchases of machinery bought outside the city — fell for a fourth consecutive month, dropping 33.5% to $444,822. Use tax revenue through November was down 8.9% to $8.3 million from the same period in 2018."