When the corona-virus  began, lumber prices slumped. Construction activity had slowed to a halt, leaving mills with excess supply. Home construction has rebounded with a bang and the mills are now playing catch up. In addition several other factors have come into play to drive wood prices higher. An increase in residential construction including do-it-yourself projects like decks. Low mortgage rates that spurred residential construction and remodeling. The construction of outdoor seat...

The Denver Post ran a story last week on the exploding popularity of backyard sheds and extended mountain stays. Aldo Svaldi said, "About one in five employers expects to have 40% or more of their staff at a remote location come next spring, according to a survey in July from The Conference Board. Before Covid-19 hit, only 3% were that open to out-of-office work arrangements. " WOW!!!! So, how is this impacting real estate? Studio Shed in Louisville who makes per-fabricated sheds has seen the...

In February only 4 cities had days in market of < 10 days. In March, 9 cities had 8 days or less! In February Parker had 22 days in market; but in March this number plummeted to just 8 days. That's a BIG change month over month. When median days in market is in single digits that's a sign of a VERY HOT REAL ESTATE MARKET! Buyers closed on 4,279 properties last month, a small increase of 1.7% over March of 2019!New listings increased by a surprising 7.6% year over year with 6,212 new ...

Realtor.com analyzed keyword home searches in every state from their website to learn what is the top keyword in each state's home search. For Colorado in first place was main floor master followed by ranch style or single-level homes. Not only do Baby Boomers covet ranch style homes, so do Millennials.

According to Patti Silverstein, Colorado ranked #2 in 2019 for wage growth of 4.9%. This puts Colorado median household income at about $75,000 at the end of 2019. Thus, a 4.9% income increase is roughly $300 a month. You couple this fact that mortgage rates are down by 1% from a year ago and homes are becoming more affordable in Colorado.   For example, you bought a $400k home with 5% down at the end of 2018, your principal and interest payment at 4.875% then was $2010 a month or abo...

The four zip codes that experienced the highest appreciation rates in 2019 were 80202, 80206, 80135, and 80433 and each zip code had a median sales price of $550k or higher. Homes in 80202 zip code (Union Station/LoDo) saw their median sales price rise 16.8% to $590k. The 80206 zip code (Congress Park) came in second place with appreciation of 15.6% to a median sales price of $715k. Third place was the 80209 zip code (Wash Park). In fourth place was 80135 zip code covering Sedalia and D...

Realtor.com released their 2019 predictions for our national real estate market. And the #1 factor affecting real estate markets is affordability due to rising mortgage rates and home price appreciation. Here are some of their predictions- Mortgage rates will average 5.30% in 2019 and hit 5.50% by end of 2019. Home prices will appreciate only 2.2% on average. Home inventories will increase by 7% in 2019. But, most of this inventory will be in the mid-to higher-end price tiers. Home sales w...