KRDO Series – Home Sweet Expensive Home
Home sweet, expensive home: The hot Colorado housing market
With an influx of people and not enough houses to go around, home prices are at a high, making a competitive market for buyers.
“I’m seeing that that market is actually kind of on fire right now,” Colorado Association of Realtors spokesperson, Kelly Moye said. Moye has been watching Colorado become a true seller’s market. She estimates houses are typically spending 25 days on the market. “Things are moving faster than we have houses to sell, so our inventory is quite low and our demand is high,” Moye said. Houses in Colorado Springs this year are selling for an average of $276,000 and in Denver $485,000.
But how long does this real estate boom last?
Moye said it can stick around as long as there are plenty of jobs, low-interest rates, and home prices stay affordable. “It’s obviously a lot less affordable than it used to be,” Moye said. “Eventually if those numbers keep going up it’s going to price people out of this market and they will have to go somewhere else.”
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Trend: Thousands find more affordable homes in EPC; commute to Denver
Affording the home you want, is getting harder and harder to achieve. And yet, the Pikes Peak housing market remains the more affordable option, compared to Denver. The average price for a home in the Pikes Peak area is $284,000; the average price for a home in Denver is $425,000.
And, that’s not all: just to qualify for a home in Colorado Springs, a buyer must make $52,593; in Denver, $78,556, according to the National Association of REALTORS. Perhaps that’s why the number of homes sold in El Paso County is nearly double that sold in Denver this year. The rate of appreciation in both markets is increasing at the same rate.
But REALTORS warn El Paso County might not always be a more affordable market. “If Denver becomes not so affordable, and people start moving towards Colorado Springs, it could be a matter of a year or two before they catch up,” says Kelly Moye with the Colorado Association of REALTORS.