Everyone is affected by real estate in Fort Collins. No matter if you want to buy, sell or rent, the current market is startling to everyone! I always try to refrain from sounding like Abe Lincoln…but I remember when those little bungalows around CSU were selling under $50,000. In the 1970’s my father was a broker in Castle Rock, one of the fastest growing areas in the nation at that time. I remember my father looking at duplexes in Castle Rock priced at $25,000 and thinking they were overpriced! Dang…If only he had purchased a few back then, I could be a Trust Fund Baby!
People always ask me how high can it go? Fort Collins is still cheaper than many places. The current median priced home in Santa Barbara CA is $1,050,000. In Boulder, the median is $693,999 Fort Collins is $352,000. (per Zillow) We may not be Santa Barbara with the ocean and the influence from Los Angeles, but we have the mountains and Denver!
Colorado’s population rose by almost 102,000 people last year, but the state added only 25,143 new homes, condos and apartments to accommodate those newcomers, according to updated estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The average household size in Colorado is 2.5 people. That means the state should have added 40,500 housing units. Instead, it is running 15,000 homes short of where it should be, adding to a deficit that has been mounting since 2012. This shortage of supply in the face of excess demand indicates prices will continue to rise.
