House prices up or down? (Fort Collins, Loveland: for sale, real estate, rent)

[Bideshi]

From what actual residents of Ft. Collins/Loveland have been seeing, are house prices stabilized, going up, going down? Real Estate sites like Trulia show increases, but real estate people may be purposely optimistic. What is your sense of the market based on what you see around your neighborhood? I appreciate any input!

[krh6609]

From what I see, they won't be going down anymore and should be on the rise. I own a construcyion related business and for the past several years, new home construction was very slow which told me that housing demand was not there. This year, we are seeing a lot more new home construction. Because it costs quite a bit more to build a new home, with development costs and material inflation, also adding landscaping, it only makes sense that an existing home will gain back its value considerably when a buyer adds up the money that has been invested in it.

[Mike Weber]

See the attached photos for the second half MLS sales data for 2011 for single family homes in Fort Collins and Loveland.

Fort Collins median home price was up 2.2% over 2010, and Loveland was flat. Median attached dwelling price in Fort Collins was up 1.1% and was flat in Loveland.

[Bideshi]

Thank you.

[smfmovies]

...but I CAN tell you that houses priced under $200,000 are FLYING off the market in Fort Collins. I was shocked at how competitive the market is. We tried to see a house that had just gone up for sale, but the key in the lockbox didn't work. The next day, the house was under contract. I don't even know how the buyers got in to see it!

If you are interested in buying, make sure you are ready to commit if you see something you like.

[tarheelamy]

The market is like wildfire here, especially in the low 200's. I know five different friends in the past month or so, who were under contract within 48hrs. We bought a house in Jan and every house we really liked had an offer before we had a chance to put one in. The house we did buy was on the market 8hrs before we put in an offer. Coming from NC, where the market is dead, this was a shock.

Be ready to commit and put in an offer quickly if you see something you like. I think the higher priced homes aren't going as quickly, but they are selling.

[Mike Weber]

At the end of March, there were 20% fewer homes available for sale in Fort Collins than the same date last year (1263 in 2011 vs. 1006 in 2012). There were 55 more homes sold in March 2012 than in March 2011 (171 in 2011 vs. 226 in 2012). The median price of the homes that sold in March was up over $35k from last March (from $210k to $245,500).

At the end of March, there were 28% fewer homes available for sale in Loveland than the same date last year, and the median home price in Loveland went up $10K over March 2011.

[ledjar]

I assume rent prices are rising considering how much rent has gone up lately for us. i've seen almost a $100 a month increase since jan 2010.

My guess is housing prices will be on the rise here at least for the next 5 years than may level off.