Local home resale market saw a bit of a rebound in 2009
The Pikes Peak region’s resale market enjoyed an upswing last year, in contrast to the home building industry.
A Pikes Peak Regional Building Department report this week showed home construction last year fell to its lowest level in nearly two decades. Statistics released Wednesday by the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors, however, continued to show hopeful signs for the resale market:
• MONTHLY SALES: Single-family home sales totaled 623 in December, a nearly 26 percent jump from the same month in 2008. December marked the seventh straight increase in year-over-year sales, reversing a downward spiral that had lasted for most of three years. Existing home sales, which account for about 90 percent of all sales, totaled 566 in December, a 22.8 percent increase from the same time a year earlier. Sales reflect only transactions handled by association members; most of the deals took place in El Paso and Teller counties.
• YEARLY SALES: Home sales totaled 8,745 in 2009, a 4.9 percent increase over 2008 and the first annual increase since 2005. Existing home sales last year totaled 8,188, an 8.3 percent increase over 2008.
• PRICES: The median price of homes sold in December climbed to $192,500, a 6.9 percent gain when compared to the same month in 2008. It was the biggest percentage increase in prices since August 2006 and the second straight monthly gain in prices after more than two years of declines. The median price of existing homes sold in December rose 5 percent to $182,850. The median is the mid-point of all prices of homes sold.
• SUPPLY: The inventory of homes listed for sale in December dropped to 3,951, down 20.2 percent from the same month in 2008. Monthly listings fell below 4,000 for the first time since December 2005.
• OUTLOOK: Even though last month’s and the 2009 numbers were improved, they’re being compared with a particularly bad month in December 2008 and a bad year overall in ‘08. Still, real estate agents have credited the federal government’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers for boosting the market. They hope for more of the same in 2010, at least to start the year; the federal government extended the tax credit to April 30, and expanded it to make existing homeowners eligible for a $6,500 credit. Mortgage rates also remain attractive at about 5 percent for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan. But the Colorado Springs area also set another record for foreclosure filings in 2009, meaning thousands of properties likely will come back on the market this year at discounted prices — creating competition for sellers of non-foreclosed properties and holding down prices in some neighborhoods.
—
Contact the writer at 636-0228
