Reality Bytes – Boulder County Home Inventories

When I say I can sympathize with frustrated homeowners whose properties haven’t sold yet, I really mean it, because my own home is for sale too. I have been considering a price reduction on my property, so I decided to do some research on inventory levels in my home’s market area. It occurred to me that other folks in Boulder County might want this information too.

Here’s what I did … I found the number of homes sold in various price categories for the last six months, from September 2008 through March 2009. Then I compared that with the current inventory as of yesterday, April 1st 2009. With some simple math I determined the number of months worth of inventory in each price range. This gives a seller an idea of how long it may take to sell their home.
And let me tell you … the news ain’t good, at least in some price ranges. Not so great for sellers that is, but great for buyers because there is a lot to choose from. Overall the most dismal news is in the high end condo market in the City of Boulder. And not surprising is the glut of homes in county inventory over the $1.5M price point. The good news … if you have a home between $200-500k you can expect to sell it within approximately 6 months or less. In the chart below, if you see “none sold” instead of a number of months of inventory it is because no properties sold in that price range from September 2008 through March 2009, which in itself is a significant statistic.

A couple of notes ..

  • The numbers represent the number of months it would take for all of the existing inventory to sell, assuming that the rate at which buyers are purchasing remains the same and no new inventory is added.
  • The existing inventory is just a snapshot in time. Inventory changes daily and usually increases in the spring and summer. But there are also more buyers during this time as well.
  • Unfortunately not every home is saleable in its current condition – some properties are just too flawed to attract a buyer without deep, deep discounting.

If you would like a similar analysis of inventory in your neighborhood don’t hesitate to contact me!

Pam Metzger
Director of Relocation
303-302-8839 (direct)