We are always interested when the monthly stats come out from the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors.  As actively involved Realtors in the real estate market of the Pikes Peak area, we have a premonition on how the stats will look but we always hope that they will be better than we expected.

 September, October and November’s stats weren’t much of a surprise.  Probably the fact that we saw increases in the average and median prices was a bit puzzling until we realized that the increases were due to the fact that there had been more sales in the $250,000 and over price ranges.  Our pool of first time homebuyers was drained with the tax credit that expired April 2010 so it only made sense that the number of sales would be less but the values would be higher.

 December 2010 saw a 16.1% increase in sales over November 2010 but only a 1% increase from December 2009.  In December, we had a total of 4,327 single family homes for sale which was a 9.5% increase from December 2009.  The average sales price increased 4.4% over December 2009 and the median sales price increase 3.1% from December 2009.  Overall, the Pikes Peak region saw a 6.4% decrease in sales for 2010 compared to 2009. 

 What do all those stats mean to you, the homeowner or home buyer?

 For the homeowner, what this means is there are more homes on the market right now and less buyers than there was a year ago so you have more competition.  You need to be sure your home is in tip top shape, staged and priced where it should be instead of where you want it to be.  That is, if you want to sell it in 2011.  You might believe that your listing price will be higher because the median and average prices seem to be going up.  That just means that there is less to select from the below $250,000 price range and more to select from the $250,000 and over price range right now.  There is still some very stiff competition out there for home sellers.  Foreclosures are definitely a threat to value and short sales although difficult to close offer buyers some negotiating power.  

 If we didn’t list another home for sale in January we would have a 6.34 month supply of listings on the market for sale.  If we could get our inventory down below a 6 month supply we would begin to see values rise and we could hope that it might actually become a Seller’s market instead of the Buyer market we have had for over the past 3 years.  Sellers, tell everyone you know that this is a great time to buy and that your home is a tremendous value.  Speak positively about the market so your friends and co-workers will relax and step back into the market.

 Now, for the homebuyer-what are you waiting for??? In the almost 32 years of selling and listing homes in the Pikes Peak region, we have never seen a market like this before!  There are excellent values in every neighborhood in the Colorado Springs area and interest rates have never been so low.  Or should I say they had never been so low.  Interest rates are beginning t0 creep back up.  No one knows if the small increase we have seen in rates in the past month or so will continue or if it will flatten out.  Remember, for every 1% increase in the interest rate, you qualify for 10% less in home value.  Right now, if you buy, you will probably pay less in a mortgage payment than you would pay for rent for the same type of property.  That opportunity doesn’t come around very often-so, what are you waiting for???

 If you want to see the numbers in black and white and in graph format, or if you would like to know how your area is performing or what the average list to sale ratio is, email us at Barbara@BarbaraHarrisTeam.com or give us a call at (719) 227-9900 and we will be happy to send you that information.