Brad Inhulsen has been a real estate broker in Greeley for about 5 years. He says 2018 will be 鈥渢he year鈥� for homeowners to sell.
鈥淲e鈥檙e so skewed to the left, to the sellers鈥� market, that it鈥檚 not even funny right now,鈥� he said
More than 77,000 new residents arrived in Colorado this year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. With the state鈥檚 unemployment rate sitting at 2.7 percent, many of the homes Inhulsen has listed along the Front Range are selling in less than one month, Inhulsen said.
In comparison, the normal time it takes for a $300,000 home to sell is about 6 months, Inhulsen said.
In the Greeley area, the average home goes for about $280,000, according to Inhulsen 鈥� far less than Denver鈥檚, which is well above $400,000.
The state鈥檚 net in-migration, which is the number of people arriving minus the number leaving, also drives up the demand for housing. It鈥檚 expected to top 61,000 in 2018.
A large concentration of those moving in are coming to Northern Colorado, according to Elizabeth Garner with the State Demographer Office.
鈥淲eld County is a large county, they鈥檝e got a lot of land area,鈥� Garner said. 鈥淗ousing is a little more affordable than, say, down in the Denver Metro area. So, people are looking at these different components and moving to places where they can make things work.鈥�
Unless developers can catch up, Inhulsen says home costs will continue to go up everywhere.
鈥淚f we could get some more land developers to come into the Greeley area and they develop those lots, they鈥檇 be able to sell those lots pretty darn quick,鈥� he said.
If the net in-migration continues as predicted, the construction industry will need to build at least half that many homes every year to support the influx, according to Rich Wobbekind, an economist at the University of Colorado, Boulder. But right now, there aren鈥檛 enough skilled workers to keep up with that demand, he said.
鈥淎nd all of that is certainly slowing the output from that sector,鈥� Wobbekind said. 鈥淎ll of that said, we鈥檙e projecting higher housing starts in terms of numbers of new houses 鈥� both single and multi-family 鈥� and that should help with the housing price increases that we鈥檝e been seeing. It should temper them a little bit more.鈥�
This year a Colorado court reformed state rules around condo and multi-family housing projects, which Wobbekind said could make it easier for builders to meet that demand.
In June, the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the construction industry in the case , which developers said gives them more authority in handling allegations of property defects.
鈥淗opefully that鈥檚 going to help ease this incredibly low inventory situation that we have,鈥� he said.
This year also saw a rise in Northern Colorado鈥檚 national reputation for high-priced housing. A report released in March from a Southern California-based company ATTOM Data Solutionsd seven Colorado counties 鈥� including Adams, Larimer and Boulder 鈥� as some of the least affordable in the country, when compared to an area鈥檚 historical home prices.
