Home sales in Fort Collins CO were up in July 2020, with 338 homes sold during the month, a gain of 4.0% from June’s sales of 325, and a gain of 25.2% from the 270 sold in July 2019. However, year-to-date sales of 1,538 homes are down 2.7% from the 1,579 homes sold for the same period last year.

Prices:

Home prices fell in July 2020. The median price dropped 3.7% to $434K from $450K in June, while the average price dropped 1.2%, from $493K to $487K. While there may not be much significance in these small changes, we’re going to be watching the recent trend line closely in coming months.

Inventory:

In a month that typically sees inventory growth, we saw a decline in July 2020, with available homes at the end of the month dropping to 401 from the 447 available at end of June, a loss of 11.5%. The Month’s Supply of Inventory (MSI) fell to 1.2 months, as sales depleted available inventory.

Summary:

July’s real estate data gives us a lot to think about. While sales maintained the large increase we saw last month, we’re still of the opinion that this is a result of pent-up demand from March, April & May, when sales were constrained by the pandemic shutdown. In addition to the data possibly signaling a softening of prices, we’re seeing more listing price drops in the market recently. And inventory is down from previous years, possibly a pandemic-related hesitation on the part of potential sellers. What can we make of all of this? The economy, and life in general, is certainly providing us with some unprecedented conditions, and we can be pretty sure that there will be significant impacts ahead. We can’t know yet whether what we’re seeing right now is the beginning of something or just the workings of random uncertainty, but we’re pretty sure we’ll have more clarity in the next couple of months.