2010 Offers Promising Market Trends for the Salida Real Estate Market By: K. Hale Chamblee

After a tumultuous year for the economy and the real estate market we’re getting a lot of current and potential Salida residents asking, “What’s next?” Truth be told, this is a very good question.

If we start by looking at the national market we learn that Pending Home Sales were down by 16% in November 2009, as compared to October 2009 – but up 15.5% from November 2009. In the West, these figure look even better with Pending Home Sales down just 2.7% from the previous month, and up 21.4% from the previous year. At Century 21 Wes Hill & Associates November 2009 was the best month, by far, the firm has had in nearly two years. Is this a flash in the pan? Or a continuing trend?

A drop in Pending Home Sales was expected after the surge of activity to beat the original deadline for the First-time Home Buyer Tax Credit, but market indicators push toward increased sales activity as a continuing trend. By early Spring we anticipate seeing an increased volume of sales and pending sales as home buyers respond to the recently extended and expanded tax credit.

Buyers that have a contract in place for the purchase of a primary residence by April 30, 2010 have until June 30, 2010 to close and qualify for a tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers and $6,500 for repeat buyers. Nationally, 900,000 first-time buyers are expected to qualify, in addition to the 2 million that have already made purchases; 1.5 million repeat buyers are expected to qualify. Repeat buyers do not need to sell their current home in order to qualify, however, they must occupy their new home as a primary residence.

The impact of the tax credit on the first half of the year, and job growth in the second half of the year are expected to contribute to increased home buying activity and thereby absorb enough market inventory to again bring a rough balance between buyers and sellers. In 2010 home prices are expected to stabilize or make a modest increase as a result.

What about the local market? The real estate market in Salida, Colorado and the surrounding areas was not immune to the national trends in 2009, however, things are already looking up. In 2009, the average listing price for residential property in Chaffee County was $258,945, and the average sell price was $242,05 – that’s 93.5% of asking. By comparisson, the average list price of residential property for Chaffee County in 2008 was $280,900, with an average sell price of $266,137, or 94.7% of asking. Already in 2010 we’ve seen 2x as many homes sold when compared to last year and the average list price has climbed to $273,775, with an average increased sales price of $258,117, or 94.3% of asking. Plus, if current trends on the Front Range are any indicator, we can expect the Salida market to pick up significantlyin the coming months.

All in all it looks like 2010 is shaping up to be another successful year for the real estate in Chaffee County!