Home prices declining slower in Colorado Springs

by Becky Hurley
To begin the year, there’s good and not-so-good-news regarding home prices in the Pikes Peak region.
The area compared favorably with the rest of the country, based on First American CoreLogic’s loan performance home price index.
Based on the latest HPI results reported during December, home prices had continued their year-over-year decline nationally through October 2009.
Locally, in Colorado Springs, home prices declined at only about half the rate of average U.S. home sales prices.
The Colorado Springs Real Estate Market was not immune to foreclosure and short sale fallout, however.
During the same period, including distressed sales, prices fell -3.01 percent. That rate of decline was less, however, than September’s year-over-year -3.54 percent drop. Excluding distressed transactions, the year-over-year sales price fell -1.66 percent during October compared to September’s -2.24 percent result.
The best news of all: First American CoreLogic’s projection is that by October 2010, 12-month appreciation for Colorado Springs’ home prices, including distressed sales, will increase an average of 1.61 percent.
Pikes Peak region distressed home sales prices looked especially strong compared to the national statistics which showed a -7.8 percent decline during October 2009, compared to October 2008. Granted, there was a slight improvement over September’s year-over-year price decline of -9.5 percent, but distressed property prices continued to decline at a higher annual rate than non-distressed home prices.
Excluding foreclosures and bank-owned real estate the annual decline in national home sales prices was -5.8 percent through October, compared to September’s -6.3 percent decrease.
Things are looking up
For 2010, the HPI forecasts declines in the short term followed by a recovery beginning this spring. The 45 largest metropolitan markets are expected to see an average of a 4.2 percent home price decrease before bottoming in March of 2010, according to FACL chief economist Mark Fleming. Home price declines will be driven primarily by large numbers of foreclosures in four or five key areas. However, improvement in both unsold inventories and unemployment are projected for spring 2010, should result in an average year-over-year appreciation of about one percent by October for all metropolitan markets.
“We are continuing to see improvements in the year-over-year home price change as prices have remained relatively stable since April,” he said, crediting additional government support for the housing market which has stimulated demand and restricted supply in 2009. “How these government supports are removed in 2010 and the moderation of pending inventory and negative equity will be critical to the continued stability of the housing market.”
For More Information on the Colorado Springs Real Estate Market, Contact Mike MacGuire, your Colorado Springs Real Estate Expert.
To View this Entire Article, Visit: http://csbj.com/2009/12/31/home-prices-declining-slower-in-colorado-springs/

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Join the Fun at Skate in the Park at Acacia Park!

Mike McGuire's Real Estate Selling Strategy

Rent or Buy? The Research is In!