ReVenture Consulting recently published a video diving into the data and analysis about the real estate market in Colorado, including Fort Collins.
In his video, he talks about the housing prices in Colorado versus the rest of the country, migration numbers, housing permits versus migration, and income versus home value. Today, we’ll address these four points as well and talk about how they pertain to Fort Collins specifically. Let’s dive in.
Colorado housing prices vs. the rest of the nation
Although back in 2007 Fort Collins was only $45K above the average home value, now it’s a different scenario and we’re about $190K above the average. This is due to many factors, but probably the larges is that we are continually listed as one of the best places to live in the USA so, naturally, people wanted to find out why.
In 2007, Fort Collins was still a hidden gem (some what), so the prices were just a bit higher than the average median price. Now, you’re paying a significant (60% premium) to live in the best place in America. Fort Collins continues to be one of the best places to live in the country as we’re all working hard on keeping that good lifestyle.
Migration surge
There has been a huge migration surge in Fort Collins. From 2007 until 2013 and 2014 net inflows were significantly increasing. Since then, numbers have not been as strong, but still very strong net inflow numbers.
Potentially, in the future, is more locals moving out of the area because of affordability issues, so we’d need to figure out how to produce higher-paying jobs and keep our locals in town. Employers should be groomed and welcomed here to Northern Colorado. To keep our community vibrant and people wanting to move and live here, we need more and higher paying jobs.
For now, though, the desirability of Fort Collins and Northern Colorado continually attracts people from all over the country AND WORLD (just had a client call from the U.K.). If and when our net inflow becomes a net outflow, Fort Collins population will continually be a big driver of the housing prices.
The change of dynamics between net migration and housing starts
With our net migration exceeding the average for the United States of 1% (versus our of 1.5%), we need more houses. Our housing permits have not kept up with the demand. In 2007 and 2008 during the Great Recession, builders got flipped on their head and have never fully restarted their engines. We continually have more people moving here than permits issued. We truly have a housing shortage.
Home values vs income
The value of our properties has increased so much that now it takes about 9.8 times our income to buy. This is definitely one of the biggest challenges that Fort Collins is yet to overcome. This must be addressed. BUT, with the availability to remote work, individuals are able to bring their higher paying California, Boston, New York, Chicago jobs with them and work from the comfort of their home. A place they WANT to live rather than have to live.
I don’t think we can rely upon that and Fort Collins MUST do a better job of grooming, developing and KEEPING talent in Fort Collins to bring more jobs. We also need to attract technology based companies to bring higher paying jobs as Boulder has done. I don’t want to be Boulder, but Boulder has addressed that their local economy need their locals to be able to produce high paying wages.
Final thoughts
After taking into consideration all these aspects, it’s definitely up to the individuals to choose whether Fort Collins is for them. One thing’s for sure, Fort Collins is a pretty strong place to buy.
Talk to you realtor and see if he/she is buying still, if they are active in the market and what their advice is. If you need any help with moving or relocating here to Fort Collins or Northern Colorado, we can make that transition so much easier on you! Get in touch with Soukup Real Estate today.
