I’ve been working with a few clients that are looking at buying in the luxury market. Well, what is luxury in Fort Collins? In many markets, luxury is synonymous with $1 Million Homes. Well, in Fort Collins, since June 1, 2019 only 20 $1 Million sold, 9 are currently under contract and 36 are currently active on the market, I went with double the Median, which was $850,000. To increase my sample size of “Luxury”, I dropped to $800,000, which gave a total of 113 properties that are active, under contract or have sold. I only wanted to look at homes and not farms or ranches, so I put the maximum lot size at 3 Acres.
Here are the findings:
ALL The Properties Active, Under Contract or Sold:
Only Properties That Have SOLD:
Only Properties That are Active:
Only Properties That are Under Contract:
So when you look at these numbers you can see that the properties that are sitting on the market, may need to do a little bit of a reduction on their $/Ft to have a chance at going under contract. On the flip side, if you are looking for value as a luxury home buyer, you don’t want to be spending more than the $208-225/Ft on Total Square footage and around $235/Ft on Finished Square Footage. That is purely on a $/Ft basis. Although this analysis does take into account lots less than 3 acres, a luxury home on a 1/4 acre lot could be a whole lot different than one on a lot of 2 acres. Also, location of these homes and views can dictate pricing.
What started this research and exploration into the most recent $/Ft for luxury homes in Fort Collins was a home we viewed that had PHENOMENAL views! Longs peak, lake, private, but was RIGHT next to a walking path where 70 other HOA members could explore, so we didn’t make a move.
As we have seen the TOTAL of Fort Collins “Luxury” market, the location within Fort Collins has not been accounted for. To do this, I went and began to look at luxury statistics by zip code. Here is what I found:
Homes in the 80524 Area (32 Total):
Homes in the 80521 Area (16 Total):
Homes in the 80525 Area (21 Total):
Homes in the 80528 Area (30 Total):
Homes in the 80526 Area (8 Total):
The most active of “luxury” home sales will be in your 80524 area, which is basically your downtown market East of S. College Avenue, but also North as far as the eye can see of Prospect. The most expensive on a per foot basis will be your 80521. 80521 is your downtown are West of S. College Avenue. The best bang for your luxury buck is going to be between 80525 and 80528 (South of Prospect and East of S. College Avenue).
Ultimately, this is just a guide as to what to SOMEWHAT expect. It gives you guidance on the certain zip codes and their unique activity as well as the overall Fort Collins Market. “Luxury” for this analysis was confined to Fort Collins, since June 1, 2019 of all homes above $800,000 and sitting on less than 3 acres.
