Denver is ‘Most Improved’ U.S. Housing Market, Businessweek Says: Denver is the “most improved U.S. housing market,” according to a new report from Bloomberg Businessweek. “In Denver, the economy and employment slowed just as other areas did during the recession, but things appear to be moving in the right direction this year,” the report says. read more here

Mortgage Applications Rise 9% After Rates Fall: WASHINGTON—Applications for mortgages rose last week as consumers refinanced their loans at the lowest rates in more than 50 years. read more here  

Denver-Area Home Resales Up 20% in May From 2009: Even though federal homebuyer tax credits expired April 30, they continued to boost the Denver area’s home resale market in May, according to Metrolist Inc. data released June 8^th. read more here

Denver-Area Luxury-Home Sales Jump 62%: Denver-area sales of homes priced at $1 million or more jumped 61.8 percent in May from a year earlier, according to Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage‘s monthly report on high-end sales. read more here  

19% of Denver-Area Employers Plan Q3 Hiring: Nineteen percent of Denver-area employers plan to hire in the third quarter, while 8 percent expect to cut their payrolls, according to a new quarterly survey by Manpower Inc. read more here

Denver Home Prices Up 4.4% From 2009, Case-Shiller Index Shows: For the sixth month in a row, home prices in the Denver area showed a 4.4 percent year-over-year increase in April, and prices also rose 1.7 percent between March and April, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Index, released June 29^th. read more here

Juju.com: Denver Improves a Notch in June Among Best Cities for Job Seekers: Denver is in 10th place among 50 large U.S. cities in the latest ranking of the best markets for job seekers by career search engine Juju.com. read more here

Portfolio.com: Colorado Has 3 of Nation’s Top 10 Mid-Sized Business Markets: Colorado has three of the nation’s top 10 mid-sized markets for business, and Boulder ranks No. 1, according to a report Wednesday from Portfolio.com. Fort Collins places third, and Colorado Springs seventh, says the national business news website.     read more here

Greeley Ranks Among the Nation’s Top 10 Great Places to Retire: According to the July/August issue of Where to Retire magazine. “Convenient to Denver and Rocky Mountain National Park, Greeley is a college town with an active arts and music scene and offers lower housing prices than common in some other areas of the state,” according to the article. read more here

Thank you to Jim Renshaw at Land Title for compiling this good news for the Denver-Metro area.

Michelle A. Potter, Denver & the Burbs REALTOR

The Berkshire Group REALTORS

303-489-4035

Denver CO. Home Prices Increase

According to the most recent S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index report, Denver residential real estate inched up in December 2009 over December of 2008 by 1.2 percent.  Denver shared the honors with 6 of the 20 cities examined in the S&P Case-Shiller Index that actually showed a year-over-year home price increase.

On the other hand, Denver home prices slipped in month-over-month comparisons.  Home prices dropped in December of 2009 from November of 2009 by a 0.8 percent.  This follows slight month-over-month drops in the fall months of September, October and November.  Prior to the fall slide, Denver posted 6 straight months of month-over-month home price increases according to S&P Case- Shiller reports.

Click here to read the S&P Case-Shiller report in its entirety.

Michelle A. Potter, Denver REALTOR
The Berkshire Group, REALTORS
303-489-4035

Case-Shiller Index: Denver home prices show annual increase for 1st time in 3 years: For the first time in three years, home prices in the Denver area showed a year-over-year increase in the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Index. read more here

Colorado Foreclosure Sales Down 4% in 2009; Fewer Filings Lead to Sales: There were 20,437 home foreclosures completed in Colorado in 2009, down 4.1 percent from 2008′s total and down 18.4 percent from the peak year of 2007, the state’s Division of Housing reported February 4^th. read more here

Commercial Real Estate Looking Up: Metro Denver’s commercial real estate market ended 2009 still hurting from turmoil in the financial markets and job losses — but key indicators say it hit bottom last year and is now poised for a slow recovery, according to a new report by CB Richard Ellis Inc. read more here

Metro Denver EDC Releases 2010 Economic Forecast: Denver Economic Development Corporation (Metro Denver EDC) presented the 2010 Economic Forecast for Metro Denver at Vectra Bank’s 17th Annual Economic Forecast Breakfast. Metro Denver’s economy fared better than many regions through the early months of recession. While employers in the seven-county region cut jobs at certain points in early 2008, the region also added net new jobs through the first three quarters of 2008. read more here

Colorado Springs Named #1 Best City: Outside Magazine named Colorado Springs the #1 Best City in America, based on the city’s cultural vibrancy, economic well-being, and overall quality of life. read more here

Powder Back in Snow Show as Industry Expo to Open in Colorado: Denver went to Las Vegas and beat the house, winning a major convention that yields its first financial jackpot at the end of January. The Snow Show, a high-powered annual gathering of ski-equipment and apparel representatives, is expected to inject at least $330 million into the local economy over its scheduled 11-year run in Denver. read more here

Homebuilders See Resurgence in Smaller Simple Product: Shea Homes Colorado is rolling out its first new community at Reunion in four years. The homebuilder is using the Commerce City development as the local launching pad for a smaller, simpler product designed to appeal to younger, more mobile buyers. read more here

Denver One of Top Cities Where it’s Smarter to Buy: For people who want to own a home, the premium to buy—the spread between what they’d spend to rent and what they’d pay for a mortgage—is much lower than the 15-year average in many cities, per Forbes magazine. read more here  

Thank you to Jim Renshaw of Land Title for compiling this Denver real estate news.

Michelle A. Potter, Denver REALTOR
The Berkshire Group, REALTORS
303-489-4035

Denver Among Top US Cities for 2009 Home-Value Gain: Metro Denver had the third-largest gain in home values among cities nationwide in 2009 through November, with a $10.7 billion increase, according to Zillow Real Estate Market Reports.  read more here

Juju: Colorado, Denver Among Nation’s Best Places to Find a Job: Denver is America’s eighth-best city for job seekers, and Colorado ranks No. 8 among the states, according to job search engine Juju.com.  read more here

Jabs brings back American Furniture Warehouse to Grand Junction: American Furniture Warehouse is returning to Grand Junction. The Evergreen-based furniture store plans to open its 13th Colorado location on 20 acres. The store closed on the last two parcels of four parcels on the property on Thursday. The price of all four parcels together was about $9.9 million. read more here

Colorado Stocks Enjoyed Big Rebound in 2009: Colorado stock performance improved starkly over 2008, powered by federal stimulus funding and improved market confidence that resisted the notion that another depression loomed, analysts say. read more here 

Rates on 30-Year Home Loans Fall to 5.09 Percent: WASHINGTON (AP) – Rates for 30-year home loans inched downward this week, the first decline in a month, but remained above last month’s record lows.   read more here

Vinyl Toy Company Kidrobot to Make Boulder its Home: Kidrobot, a New York-based company known for its limited-edition vinyl toys and apparel, is moving its headquarters to Boulder. Paul Budnitz, the company’s founder and president, said that Kidrobot hopes to have the head office operational in Boulder by March or April.   read more here

General Dynamics Opens Colorado Data Center; 100 Jobs Expected: A unit of giant defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. has opened a data center in Westminster to support its work for the Department of Homeland Security. read more here

Jim Renshaw
Land Title
Guest Blogger

Colorado Mortgage Rates Sink to 4.54%: Colorado home mortgage rates continue to sink this week, reaching 4.54 percent on a 30-year fixed loan Wednesday, according to Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. read more here

Kiewit Named Contractor for Denver Zoo’s $50M Asian Tropics Exhibit: The Denver Zoo said Monday it has selected Kiewit Building Group from among five bidders as general contractor for the zoo’s 10-acre Asian Tropics exhibit, the largest exhibit in its 113-year history.read more here

Colorado Unemployment at 6.9% in October, 3rd Straight Decline: Colorado’s unemployment rate fell slightly to 6.9 percent in October, the third consecutive monthly decline in joblessness and the lowest rate since January, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment said November 20th. read more here

Realtors: Existing-Home Sales Rise in West, but Less than National Rate: Home resales in Colorado and other western states rose 1.6 percent in October from the previous month and are up 12 percent from a year earlier, the National Association of Realtors reported November 23rd. read more here

Region’s Cities Among Nation’s Best Performing: Northern Colorado ranked high in the nation and at the top for Colorado in the 2009 Best-Performing Cities index.read more here

Company Announcements Help Establish Base for Job Growth in Metro Denver: In Metro Denver, numerous company announcements over the past several months reflect the region’s strong business climate – even during recession – and will help establish a base for job growth as conditions improve, according to data compiled by the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (Metro Denver EDC) in its Monthly Economic Summary for November 2009.read more here

New Home Sales Rise in October: New home sales rose 6.2 percent in October compared to September, according to a report released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This increase was 5.1 percent above the October 2008 level.read more here

Michelle A. Potter, Denver Realtor

Following 6 months of steady improvement – the S&P Case Shiller Home Price Index data released today, indicates a small month-over-month average home price decrease for the Denver Metropolitan area.

Home prices in Denver showed a slight slide, with home prices decreasing 0.5 percent in September compared with August.

The good news is that out of 20 Cities studied – Denver tied with Dallas, showing the smallest year-over-year home price drop. Both cities weighed in with an average home priced decline of 1.2 percent when comparing data from the previous year.

Since real estate is local, you might want to check out: Denver market stats for additional information.

Michelle A. Potter

Denver Realtor
RE/MAX Professionals

Homebuyer Tax Credit Extended, Expanded: The House of Representatives passed legislation November 5^th that would extend and expand the tax credit for first-time home buyers. read more here

Denver Home Re-sales Rebound in October: Metro Denver home resales increased in October from September, but were down from October of last year, according to a Metrolist Inc. housing report released Friday. read more here

Existing-Home Sales Jump 13% in West, 9.4% Nationwide: First-time homebuyers helped drive up existing home sales nationwide — and especially in the western states, including Colorado — according to the latest figures from the National Association of Realtors. In the West, including Colorado, existing-home sales jumped 13 percent to an annual level of 1.3 million in September — 5.7 percent higher than a year ago. read more here

Colorado Springs Makes Business Weeks ’40 Strongest’ List: Once again, Colorado Springs is in the spotlight for being a great place to live–but this time it’s not for the mountains, the view or the many places to hike, mountain bike or road bike. The Springs is on BusinessWeek’s 40 Strongest U.S. Metro Economies list. The Pikes Peak region ranked 24^th on the list, which was compiled using data and analysis from  Brookings Institution’s new MetroMonitor study. read more here

SMA Solar Plant to Bring Hundreds of Jobs to Denver: SMA Solar Technology AG, the world’s largest manufacturer of a critical component in solar power generation, said Monday it will invest about $20 million in its first North American manufacturing plant — in Denver — expected to open in the first half of 2010. read more here

Cabela’s Plans Grand Junction Store: Cabela’s Inc. announced today that it will build a 75,000-square-foot store in Grand Junction, the Nebraska-based outfitter’s first retail outlet in Colorado. Work on the store, which will anchor the south end of Mesa Mall at U.S. highways 6 and 50, is expected to begin in early November with the opening in early summer 2010. read more here

Vail Resorts’ Sales of Season Passes Increase 13 Percent: Vail Resorts Inc.’s season-pass sales rose 13 percent in September as skiers eager for powder prepared to make tracks a year after the financial crisis. read more here

Jim Renshaw
Guest Blogger
Land Title

The S&P/Case Shiller Home Indices was released today with encouraging news for the Denver home market.

Denver came in 2^nd behind the top ranked Dallas home market out of the 20 cities examined by the S&P/Case Shiller index released today.

The report has a two-month lag time and reflects the home market activity for the months of July and August.

Denver homes lost 1.9% according to the report while the decrease in the overall 20 cities examined was 11.3%

Read the full report at: S&P Case Shiller Home Price Indices If you are considering listing your Denver metro home please feel free to contact me for a no obligation analysis of your home’s value.

Michelle A. Potter

RE/MAX Professionals

303-489-4035

Forbes Ranked Colorado Fourth Best State for Business: Forbes.com’s latest ranking of the best states for business ranks Colorado at No. 4, up from No. 6 last year. The ranking measures six categories for businesses: costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, current economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life. Colorado finished in the top 15 in four of the six main categories, including quality of its workforce (1st), prospects for growth (2nd), and economic climate. read more here

Denver Home Prices Rise Again, Getting Closer to 2008 Levels: Home prices in the Denver area rose in July for the fifth straight month, and prices are creeping closer to where they were a year ago, according to Standard & Poor’s closely watched S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Index. read more here

Vestas Hiring Workers for Brighton Plant, Plans Job Fair: Vestas Nacelles America Inc. is recruiting workers for its planned Brighton wind-power factory and will hold a career fair Thursday. Vestas announced last year it will build a $290 million plant in Brighton for assembling wind-turbine nacelles and making blades. The facility is expected to be in operation by next year. The blade factory will employ about 650 people and the nacelle plant will have about 700 employees, Vestas has said. read more here

Record Streak Continues for Pending Home Sales: Pending home sales have increased for seven straight months, the longest in the series of the index which began in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors®.Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the housing market momentum has clearly turned for the better. “The recovery is broad-based across many parts of the country. Housing affordability has been at record highs this year with the added stimulus of a first-time buyer tax credit,” he said. read more here

Colorado Mortgage Rates Hit 4.9%, Lowest in Months: Mortgage rates in Colorado dipped to 4.9 percent Tuesday September 29^th, their lowest level in several months, and were headed lower Wednesday, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace reported. Local rates for 30-year-fixed mortgages topped 5.3 percent in early August and have been heading more or less downward ever since, according to Zillow data. read more here

Is the Vail Valley Economy Starting to Rebound? The Vail Valley’s giddy boom days of 2007 are long past, but there may be some signs the local economy is starting to show some signs of life. read more here

Denver No. 7 as Youth Magnet: The Wall Street Journal enlisted the help of six experts to determine the 10 most attractive cities that for attracting young professionals, and profiled the top 5. Denver ranked No. 7. read more here

Jim Renshaw, Land Title

Guest Blogger

A $10 million grant, courtesy of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), aims to supplement funding which will transform the S. Lincoln Park Homes public-housing project in Denver into a sustainable mixed-income community.

The Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood is located south of downtown Denver, just below the Auraria Campus. In addition to the current public-housing project – the neighborhood is home to one-story stuccos, row-homes, Victorians, and duplexes, along with a commercial corridor on Santa Fe Drive.

RTD’s light-rail station on West 10^th Avenue and Osage Street sits on the western part of the neighborhood and makes this area a perfect candidate for expanding a transit-centered development.

Over the course of the next 7 years, plans envision creating a sustainable mixed-income use community within the Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood. The present, S. Lincoln Homes 270-unit public-housing project, will be supplanted with a 900-unit mixed-income/mixed-use development.

Proximity to downtown Denver, easy access to light-rail, and increased housing options available to a wider range of income groups, seems like a wise investment in Denver’s future.

Read more from HUD.

Michelle A. Potter

Denver Realtor

RE/MAX Professionals