Boulder single-family housing market finishes 2010 on a high note

It may have sounded more like a “pop” than a “bang,” but the Boulder County real estate market ended 2010 on a high note.

“We’re continuing this trend of seeing some modest improvement, especially in the single-family market,” says Ken Hotard, senior vice president of public affairs for the Boulder Area Realtor Association.

In December, 231 single-family homes sold, compared with 211 in December 2009 and 195 in November 2010. But the number of homes that sold isn’t the only positive aspect of the month’s figures, Hotard points out.

“Every market area had a increase year-over-year in single-family median home prices through Nov. 30,” he says, adding the average sales price also increased in every market but two (the mountains and plains) during the same period.

On the other side of the coin, “attached dwellings didn’t do so well,” Hotard says.

While December’s sale volume was close to 2009’s, most Boulder County markets saw declines in average and median prices.

“I think that’s the weaker part of the market right now,” he says. “It’s much more of a buyer’s market than the single-family home market, and there is continued difficulty in lending in the condo market.”

At the same time, lending volume across markets has increased “very modestly, which I think is more related to increased demand rather than easing credit,” Hotard says.

While qualifying criteria for loans has not loosened up, lending volume has grown with more homeowners refinancing and a modest increase in loan applications, he says.

Hotard says that while it’s possible that Boulder County home prices could reach their peak levels from 2005-2006 within a couple of years, as Fiserv Case-Shiller recently predicted, the market will have to gain more momentum than it has thus far. Home prices have dropped as much as 20 percent from those peak years.

“Inventories continue to be tight, sustaining prices, but once prices move up, there’ll be more homes for sale and that could hold back home prices somewhat,” he says. “It’s difficult to be precise. … There’s a lot of moving parts in the market right now; it’s tough to make broad general statements you can spread across the market. I do agree that this area (Boulder County) of Colorado … is likely to recover much sooner than most of the nation.”

But owning a home is still the American dream for which many people are still reaching, Hotard says, pointing to a National Association of Realtors study that shows 95 percent of home owners and 72 percent of renters believe that over a period of several years, it makes more financial sense to own a home than to rent. And 93 percent of those home owners say they would buy again.

“Even though we’ve gone thru this period of tremendous uncertainty and actual loss in many markets, American attitudes toward home ownership continue to be strong,” Hotard says.