What’s happening in the luxury market?
BOULDER COUNTY – Sell now or wait? The luxury home market (homes that sold for $1 million or more) in Boulder County experienced a decline in price year to year (YTY) of four percent. Because of the area’s continued popularity it bucked the trend and had a slight price increase of 0.1 percent. More homes sold in December than a year ago with an increase in new listings of 52 percent. Longmont led the way with an increase of 133 percent. This was offset by Erie’s 100 percent decrease. More people are selling their homes in both Boulder (up 183 percent) and Longmont (up 214 percent) year-to-year. Erie’s supply of luxury homes was up only ten percent. Surprisingly, these luxury homes sold in an average 65 days; 90 days or longer is typical for any price range. Buyers are more reluctant to buy as closed sales in December declined an average of 31 percent year to year despite the larger inventory of homes for sale. Listing agents continue to price homes well as the average list to close price is 92.2 percent. However, it was only 88.0 percent in Longmont. 42 homes were under contract at the end of December in Boulder County, the same as a year ago. All in all, we are in a declining luxury real estate market. The average price is down slightly (4 percent), the number of new listings is up dramatically (51.7 percent), the supply of homes is up an average of 171.4 percent, but the number of closed sales is down substantially (an average of 31 percent). The market has switched from buyers clamoring to buy with a low inventory of homes on the market to sellers wanting to sell, but not selling their homes for as much or as quickly as a year ago. If you are planning to sell your home this year, sooner is better than later because of the expected continuing decline of housing prices this year. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) expects prices to be up 15 percent to 25 percent within five years.