Our local multi-list service is supplied by Information and Real Estate Services (IRES). They provide data on all listed properties and also track sales by categories such as residential single family both new and resale, residential multi-family, new and resale as well as investment properties, commercial properties, farm and ranch, vacant land, etc. We use their sold data to provide regular monthly sales information for residential properties in the Fort Collins region which includes Fort Collins and all of the area in northern Larimer County all the way to the Wyoming border.

There are many other real estate sales and pricing information sources including the National Association of Realtors, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) Housing Price Index (HPI) and the S&P Case-Shiller index. The only one that provides specific local information is IRES. NAR tracks the national median selling price and well as four large sub areas where Fort Collins is included in the western region. OFHEO tracks 282 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) of which Fort Collins and Loveland combined are one area while Case-Shiller only tracks 20 metropolitan areas of which Denver is the closest to our market.

The OFHEO is an index of change in price with a figure of 100 in 1991 being the base. The Case Shiller index uses a base of 100 in 2000. To develop the accompanying chart we used the IRES median home value for Fort Collins at the end of 2000 which was $187,900. We then converted all of the index values into annual percentage increases and applied them to our base median home value for the eight years from 2001 to 2008.

The bottom line (#1) in the chart shows the actual median home price in the Fort Collins area as calculated by IRES starting with $187,900 at the end of 2000 and increasing to $233,000 at the end of 2008, an increase of 24.0%. The next line up tracks the median price using the OFHEO index for Fort Collins / Loveland which ends up at $244,000, an increase of 29.9%. Line #3 shows the base median price increased by the national price increase reported by NAR which would have taken our median property value to $253,500, an increase of 34.9%

Line #4 is the increase as it would have been using the Case Shiller 20 city average which takes it to $253,800, an increase of 35.1% and line #5 uses the OFHEO national price increase which is 38.1% to $259,500. We should note that the OFHEO figures are only to the end of the third quarter of 2008. Assuming they will report a decrease in the last quarter it is possible that their $259,500 price will be reduced even more in line with the other figures.

The final line #6 uses the Case Shiller tracking of the price changes in the Las Vegas market which ends up at $240,100, an increase of 27.8%. It is interesting to note the dramatic rise and fall of the this market which hit a peak of a 114% increase in the first six years before dropping over 40% in just the last two years. To express it another way, your Fort Collins home that was worth $187,900 in 2000 would have been worth over $400,000 in 2006 if we had experienced Las Vegas price appreciation and today it would be right back down to $240,000; talk about a roller coaster!

At the peak of the climb in 2006 the Case Shiller national index was up 77.7% and both OFHEO and NAR showed 50% increases while we were sitting at 22.4%. We can’t say that slow and steady won the race but two years later at the end of the eight year period we arrived at almost the same place. It was not as glamorous and certainly did not attract any national attention or a bunch of speculation but that has probably been a good thing. The bottom line, with all the different tracking methods, is that all of the prices ended up very close – even surprisingly close – at the end of the day.