Colorado Springs Home prices (Denver: for sale, 2015, foreclosures)

[Jalhop]

"told the Feds to lower rates" robs Peter to pay Paul. People pay more for houses or buy bigger houses due to the lower interest rates. Savers can't earn income from the lower interest rates, so they invest elsewhere including in the stock market and real estate. Businesses take advantage of the lower rates to borrow money and buy their own stock. The higher stock prices and other borrowing by businesses fuels job creation, and then more houses are purchased. It's a bubble. Forcing interest rates lower comes at a price; it can't last indefinitely. When the rates are let to rise, the artificial gains will likely be reversed and then some. The economy isn't as rosy as it seems.

[vnodak]

The housing market traditionally is hot in the Spring as that is when most people are looking to buy and with low interest rate, then more buyers. If you recall, from the last recession, that subprime loans were an issue so anyone who could talk could get a house and one they could not afford equaling eventually lots of foreclosures down the road. The market is tighter now and their are a lot of hoops to jump through before you qualify for a loan. I recently retired and moved here from the Seattle area. It is much cheaper to live here and you get more bang for your buck so to speak. The average house in Seattle area sells for around $400,000. Their are bidding wars on those houses. According to real estate agents, the average house sells here for around $250,000. What you get for $400,000 in Seattle is 1/2 of what you get here for $250,000. Also, if you want to live in Seattle or close to Microsoft, it is even higher. Rent also is very high in Seattle area. The economy is also good there with lots of work. I also noticed that the presentation of homes selling in the Seattle area was much different than here. There people seem to do more fixer up and staging than here. Here I noticed that half were and half were not. No house is perfect but I am probably not going to buy a house that has not been kept up. I actually saw houses between $275,000 and $375,000 that walls had holes in them and woodwork was beaten up, floors were trashed so to speak and piles of junk all over, stove was dirty, house smelled awful etc. This is just my perspective on things and I love it here!!

[vnodak]

Originally Posted by Jalhop

"told the Feds to lower rates" robs Peter to pay Paul. People pay more for houses or buy bigger houses due to the lower interest rates. Savers can't earn income from the lower interest rates, so they invest elsewhere including in the stock market and real estate. Businesses take advantage of the lower rates to borrow money and buy their own stock. The higher stock prices and other borrowing by businesses fuels job creation, and then more houses are purchased. It's a bubble. Forcing interest rates lower comes at a price; it can't last indefinitely. When the rates are let to rise, the artificial gains will likely be reversed and then some. The economy isn't as rosy as it seems.

I do not think the economy is as bad as it was when the housing market dumped---I think it is more middle of the road personally. It depends on where you live also --- the cost of living.

[Jalhop]

The economy is going fairly gangbusters. A lot of the rosiness is due to borrowing from the future, however. My personal economy could look great too, if I borrowed as much as the bank would loan me and I spent it all. There'd be a day of reckoning of course. Unlike for me, there is no foreseeable limit to how much the US can borrow, yet we can expect more frequent and deeper crashes due to the instability that causes.

The good news for COS is that there's not a lot of volatility in its housing prices. It's not like in Seattle where house prices almost double or get cut almost in half inside of a decade, so that a buyer might take a huge risk just to own a house.

[beezle1]

Here is what is happening with the market in El Paso County:

[Vision67]

Prices of Colorado Springs houses rise:

Colorado Springs home prices and sales soar to record highs in May

The median price - or mid-point - for single-family homes that sold in May increased to $243,000, a 12.4 percent jump when compared with the same month last year.

[Vision67]

Colorado Springs house prices are a relative bargain.


"The price for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home averaged $252,157 in the Springs, ranking it as the 28th least expensive among 31 cities in Colorado, according to a Coldwell Banker Home Listing Report released this week."

Colorado Springs home prices among the most affordable in the state

[Vision67]

Update: The Pikes Peak Association of Realtors releases its own monthly report on Colorado Springs-area housing trends. In November, the median sales price for area homes rose to $237,500, a 9.6 percent jump over the same month in 2014, according to the Realtors Association.

Colorado Springs housing prices continue to rise, national report says

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by Vision67

Colorado Springs house prices are a relative bargain.


"The price for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home averaged $252,157 in the Springs, ranking it as the 28th least expensive among 31 cities in Colorado, according to a Coldwell Banker Home Listing Report released this week."

Colorado Springs home prices among the most affordable in the state

Colorado Springs is the second largest city in Colorado. In most states, larger cities are more expensive than smaller cities. That CS is that affordable despite being so large is very surprising, and may indicate that its housing prices could remain relatively stable if there is a housing correction.

I do believe that most of the nation is on some type of housing bubble right now. I don't know how long it will last or how it will deflate, but low rates in a time of economic growth have driven prices up. Historically, housing prices barely outpace inflation. This can't continue indefinitely.

Irrelevant question: What does a winking thumbs-up emoticon mean?

[jngreenlee]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

Irrelevant question: What does a winking thumbs-up emoticon mean?

Like the salesman answering the question of whether the car comes free of extra charges on the invoice.