Thanks…we needed that! Local real estate sales in February took a welcome jump, showing a 33.6% increase over last year and a big improvement from the 16% drop in January. This was enough to put home sales into the black for the year to date and it has been a long time since there was an 8.9% year to date increase in home sales. Also, the average selling price was virtually the same as last year, halting a trend of eight months in a row where the selling price was below the previous year.

Other figures were also positive, with the days on the market for homes sold in February improved to 119 from 135 a year ago, the inventory of homes for sale has increased 5.3% perhaps reflecting more confidence from home sellers and the showings for February up 12.5% from a year ago and 13.8% from last month.

With a big thanks to the tax credits, but also to extremely low mortgage interest rates and increasing consumer confidence, we are now on a six month roll where home sales have increased 18.3% compared to the same period last year. This is a big improvement over the previous six months when home sales were down 15.1%. Granted the previous year figures reflect a low level of sales, off 25% to 30% from the peak years of 2004 and 2005 but it is another positive sign that we have reached the bottom and sales are beginning to rebound.

The tax credit rules require purchases to be under contract by April 30, 2010 and closed by June 30, 2010 so we are expecting a lot of activity over the next few weeks and an increased number of closings through to the end of June. You know the drill – if you are a home seller you should have your home listed for sale right now. If you are a home buyer, you are running out of time so get moving!

* * * * * *

We follow the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) quarterly reports on home price appreciation and the report for the 4th quarter shows the national home price index is down 4.7%. The Fort Collins / Loveland area was ranked #80 of 299 national MSA’s with a one year drop of 1.38%. This is the areas highest ranking in many years and was a virtual tie with the Denver metro area (#79 at -1.37%) for best in the state. Other Colorado areas were #82 Boulder -1.45%, #114 Greeley -2.44%, , #142 Pueblo -3.13%, #144 Colorado Springs -3.21% and #194 Grand Junction -5.63%. This information is for the ‘all-transaction’ HPI which includes data from both home purchases and refinancing. We reported a 4.2% drop in the 2009 4th quarter average sales price compared to 2008 and the median price in the 4th quarter actually showed a 0.9% improvement.

There are many other platforms and models used for calculating home price appreciation but suffice to say pricing in our market area have been very flat for a number of years but as evidenced by the #80 ranking, there is nothing wrong with slow but sure.