Economic Outlook for Real Estate

Ill bet you think that I have a crystal ball with a headline like that! I dont, Im just a resort Realtor in the Colorado Rocky Mountains that has seen many cycles come and go in the real estate world. I wish I could give credit to the person whose quote I use constantly, but I just dont know who said Real Estate is a function of time. It always has been and always will be. Weve been through some pretty traumatic times over the last 5 or so years, especially when you consider that ski resort real estate sales are discretionary purchases. You dont really HAVE to have that beautiful ski-in/ski-out condo at the base but boy, it sure would be nice. And it would be even nicer if you could make some serious profit on the future sale of that condo. Here in Winter Park, Colorado, our market has been steadily improving with slightly increasing average sales prices and a decreasing inventory. There are still many wonderful properties to purchase, and at pretty good prices too, considering that were a nationally acclaimed ski resort. So a lot of factors come into play when you are making your decision to buy ski resort property. The overall health of the economy is just one factor but the most recognizable. According to Lawrence Yun, Ph.D.,Chief Economist, National Association of REALTORS, the outlook overall is pretty good. I say only pretty good because there are some good news/bad news scenarios at play. The good news is that jobs are being added to the economy at a good rate. Bad news is that the wages are not keeping pace. Lifetime wealth is at an all-time high, this is always good news! But consumer confidence is still fairly flat, its definitely getting better but Ill keep this in the bad news column temporarily. At the National Association of Realtors Convention in San Diego in mid-November, Dr Yun mentioned these factors plus several others to us in a room filled with a good 3,000 Realtors from across the nation. The biggest piece of news that we were waiting for was whether or not the Federal Reserve will be increasing interest rates. He said that the question is probably not if but more likely when and how often. The rates hikes might not be very big but it seems that this is going to happen, maybe in December 2015 or in early 2016. This might be just enough motivation for you to go ahead and look into purchasing that fantastic base village condo at the Winter Park Resort!