We got our first snowfall of the season, and it got down to nine degrees! It seems like yesterday we had snow, yet this Summer ranks in the most beautiful. I guess it’s time for sweaters and boots!
Here are recent stats:
The market is sending mixed signals right now. The number of listings coming on the market has been slowing, as it usually does during this season, but it’s a little more than usual. As well, the rental market here is really strong, with 2 bedrooms 2 bath condos renting for $2200-2500 a month. Four years ago, these same apartments were renting for $1800 a month.
$2500 a month seems to be the current limit for persons in our market. I say this because the condos with this value of rent sit on the market for a while waiting for someone to afford them. Having an empty rental unit doesn’t make sense to me. If I lost rent for a month or two, didn’t I lose a bunch of money rather than renting at a lower amount and keeping my renter in the unit?
I speculate that someone who can afford more than $2500 a month for rent can afford $3000 a month and at that monthly rate, the property has more luxury.
Before I conclude, two more pieces of information seem significant. One, though there are many price drops. It is notable that there is the number of sales being made and that the number of sales in single-family homes has dropped 14% but the median sales value is up 18%, year to date. In condos, the number of sales is down 5% and values up 7%. Inventory is down by about 10%. Second, the recent Fed interest rate drop will be felt around the Summer of next year.
This information, to me, is significant. When I was putting all of these items together, especially the changes in inventory, it made me think that the housing slow down is very near changing to an upwards market again. I don’t know if this is true, of course, and am curious about what the Winter season will bring. Overall, there isn’t a reason for a slowdown in sales in Steamboat that sounds reasonable to me.
Reading the Kiplinger Letter last week, they noted a reduction in home inventory across the nation and expected housing values to increase. If this occurs, it is likely we will see a change in Denver first and it will trickle to Steamboat around 6 months later.