Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Zillow: Feb. home values decline in all metros but Ft. Collins

The Zillow Home Value Index for the United States decreased 4.5 percent from February 20121 to February 2012, falling to $145,400. In Colorado, the home value index fell 1.3 percent over the same period to $199,300.

In Colorado's metro areas, all areas except the Fort Collins metro area showed year-over-declines from February 2012 to February 2012. Grand Junction and Pueblo showed the largest drops while Boulder and Denver metro showed the smallest drops.

Greeley data was not included in the report.

Change from February 2011 to February 2012:
Boulder -1.1
Colo Springs -1.3
Denver metro -1.1
Ft. Collins +2.1
Grand Junct -9.9
Pueblo -5.8





As can be seen in the graphs, in recent years, home prices have shown the most stability in Boulder, Fort Collins and in Denver metro. These three areas also have the highest median estimated value, according to Zillow.

Estimated home value for each metro area for February 2012:

Boulder $303,300
Colo Springs $179,400
Denver metro $204,200
Ft. Collins $214,900
Grand Junct $153,900
Pueblo $101,400

The Grand Junction area has showed the most bubble-like behavior in its run-up in prices in 2007 and 2008 before a significant decline over the past 2 years.

Zillow home valuations, known as the median "Zestimate valuation" should be taken with a grain of salt, but in this case they do appear to be in line with other home price indices and trends. The metro trends presented here match up well with the metro trends provided by FHFA's quarterly reports on home prices in Colorado.

The strongest Colorado job markets, found in Boulder, metro Denver and the Ft. Collins area correspond with the highest home value estimates. The continued small declines in prices reflects other indices, although the Case-Shiller and CoreLogic indices did show some small increases for prices during January and February, respectively.