COLORADO SPRINGS — It's costing more to buy a house in the Pikes Peak region and more difficult to find one to buy.
The median price has hit a record high and now some are saying the area is one of the most competitive homebuying markets in the entire country. Simply put, it's a low supply and high demand situation with prices only getting steeper.
A report from the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors shows that in October median home prices were at $335,000. At this time last year it was $305,000.
Bottom line - if you're looking to buy a home in the Pikes Peak region get ready to face some bumps in the road.
Springs Homes Realtor Maggie Turner said, "The housing market in Colorado Springs is still pretty wild."
Several factors are causing what Turner calls "frenzied activity " in the area's housing market.
"Inventory has continued to decline meaning the number of houses that are available on the market has gone down."
To put it in perspective Turner shared that during Q3 of 2018 there were about 2,100 homes for sale in El Paso County. During Q3 of this year there were only 1,700.
Turner said, "We're also seeing a lot of people moving to town."
Tatiana Bailey, director of the UCCS Economic Forum, said another factor is the decline in homebuilding.
She said, "Because of those high construction and labor costs, and less vacant developed land we are now actually under-building a little bit."
All in all, it's a really tough market for buyers. Which means you may have to wait for your dream home longer than expected and prepare yourself for disappointment.
Turner said, "You walk into a house and a buyer loves it, they fall in love with this house and they really want to buy it and you put a contract in, but there's competing offers and they don't get it."
While it may be more challenging to purchase a home right now there's no signs of prices dropping just yet.
Bailey said, "If you can afford a home, if you have the down payment...it is still a really good time to do it."
She also shared that from 2008 to 2018 the median home price in Colorado Springs for all homes, new and existing, increased 72 percent which she believes is astronomical. It's clear that something needs to be done to get the affordability crisis under control. Turner said she hopes city leaders will look into this.
