Nationally, the number of home sales has been on the decline for the last four months but still hit a record high in December. In Longmont, numbers remained steady from August through November, before taking a dip in December.
“The National Association of Realtors index of pending sales dipped 0.3% to 125.5 in December, the Associated Press reported, citing a report released Friday That total still represented an all-time high, according to the AP.
Data collected by the Longmont Association of Realtors, or LAR, indicate an average of 129 houses were sold monthly August through November, however, in December only 96 homes sold.
Even with a dip at the end of the year, Longmont saw an 11% increase in overall home sales from 2019, when 1,275 homes were sold.
Low interest rates caused a scarcity in the market, driving the average home price to a high of $546,255 in October, according to LAR data.
The average price has since decreased to $492,823, according to data shared by LAR. Despite the decrease, home prices are still up 3.7% from 2019 averages.
This is not a new phenomenon for the Longmont area. The average price for single family homes has increased 65.4% over the last seven years, according to LAR data. In 2014 the average price was around $300,000.
The dramatic increase in home prices is attributed to supply and demand since the recession of 2008-2010, said LAR Chair Kurt Finley.
“New homes and apartments have come on the market much more slowly than they did earlier in the decade, while demand has continued to grow at a torrid pace. The growing inventory-demand gap, along with Colorado’s quality of life, amenities offered in our Front Range communities, including Longmont, and historically low interest rates have all contributed to a long-running seller’s market,” Finley said via email.
Housing continues to be hard to find around Longmont and although progress has been made in building apartments, “single family home, condo and townhome inventories have not caught up,” Finley said.
In a study released last month, apartment finder website RENTCafe listed Longmont as No. 18 on its list of the top 20 booming suburbs for renters and as the top suburb in Colorado for new apartment construction, citing 2,154 new units built in the past five years.
Finley said he expects appreciation on single-family homes in Longmont to level out to 4% to 5% in 2021 due to an expected increase in new listings over the spring selling season.
