One half of 2020 is in the books and it feels like it’s been a decade. The events of the last few months with Covid, and the political scene, and race relations, have been stressful on everyone. I don’t need to tell you that! If there are a few bright spots, the stock market is working its way back, and local real estate has stayed steady with some growth.
I did see a report in early June that talked about the falling real estate market in this area, so I decided to check out the statistics for myself. I found them to be encouraging. In the last 12 months, on a rolling 12-month average, the median price of a single-family residence in Fort Collins rose 2.3%. The average sales price rose 3.4%. This is all while new listings and close sales are down 9.1% and 11.3% respectively. The median sales price as of the end of June was $440,000 for a single-family home and $334,000 for a townhome or condominium.
Townhomes and condominiums showed an increase in the median sales price of 3.4% and an increase in average sales price of 6.9%. These statistics include all the Covid season in the spring up to the first of July.
Many things I read by economists state that a 3% annual growth is perfectly healthy, and better for the economy. Through everything that has happened this year, the local real estate market has met that benchmark. Slowly but surely, we will work our way out of the Covid crisis. I think the political scene will have some resolution in November, and people will have more confidence in the leadership of this country. Leadership will help everything.
My mantra currently is, “one day at a time”. We cannot control tomorrow we can only control what is at hand today and do our best in every situation. I am trying to be encouraging. These things shall pass and although the new reality may look something different than the old reality, people don’t change. People want to control where they live. They want to socialize. And they want peace. I think those will once again come to the surface. I remember that George Bush Senior used to talk about the United States being a “kinder and gentler nation”. I hope and pray that we do exactly that. Hang in there.
