Tuesday, October 9, 2007

DENVER METRO VACANCY RATE FALLS TO 4.7 PERCENT


The vacancy rate for affordable rental housing in the state dropped to 4.7 percent during the second quarter, according to a report released Monday by the Colorado Division of Housing and the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority.

That’s down from 6 percent during the first quarter. Denver’s rate for affordable housing is just 4.3%.

This is good news if you are a landlord with homes at the lower end of the market. Although foreclosures are forcing prices down right now, eventually the subprime foreclosure supply will dry up, forcing prices back up.

And, consider this… just where exactly are they building cheap housing these days within the Denver metro area? Affordable housing is one of the magnets that has helped propel Colorado into the ranks of the fastest growing states in the country. Owning a few houses at a price point that only figures to grow in demand can't be a bad thing...

Thursday, October 4, 2007

"THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT! THE ROCKIES WIN THE PENNANT!!"

We are living in interesting times. Here in Colorado, where baseball season normally ends about the time the Broncos report to training camp, the Colorado Rockies won 13 of their last 14 regular season games, beat the San Diego Padres in a one game playoff, and are now locked in a duel with the Philadelphia Phillies for the right to go to the National League Championship Series.

What does this have to do with real estate? Well, it's a bit of a stretch, I admit, but it has to with psychology. Real estate markets, like the stock market, are often driven by emotion as much as by underlying fundamentals. When times are good, everyone wants in, and the herd mentality takes over. And when times are bad, no one wants to budge for fear of paying too much or buying into a declining market.

All it took was two magical weeks of winning for Denver to turn back into a baseball town. The Rocky Mountain News reported last week that Denver is showing the early signs of a housing recovery, as homes here appreciated by 1.3% during the second quarter of 2007, the fastest rate of 20 major metropolitan areas tracked by the Standard & Poors / Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Overall, the 20 areas studied in the Case-Shiller survey showed an average drop of 3.9% over the past 12 months.

"Denver is a low risk market", said Mike Foster, director of land acquisition for Century Communities, a private suburban builder. Because the Denver market has been flat for the past five years, "it will continue to be easier and more attractive for companies to relocate to our market than to relocate to other markets," he said.

It has been mentioned previously in this space that NAR is projecting Denver to be a "Top Five" housing market for 2008, and with interest rates dropping as the national foreclosure pictures grows more severe, there clearly is value and affordability in many sectors of our market.

Whether you are a first-time homebuyer, an investor, or a longtime homeowner thinking about moving up, now is an excellent time to look at what the greater Denver metro area has to offer. Please give me a call and let's discuss where the opportunities exist in this market for you.