Many economists downgraded expectations for the U.S. economy this year after a first-quarter contraction of 2.9 percent that was the worst since the Great Recession. But in Colorado, strong gains in energy and tourism and a continued flow of people into the state are causing economists to up the ante. Colorado is on track to add 68,000 net new jobs this year rather than the 61,300 the Colorado Business Economic Outlook in December predicted it would gain, according to a midyear update from the University of Colorado.

Colorado had the country’s fourth-fastest rate of population growth and ranked fifth for the total number of residents gained last year. That is putting upward pressure on home prices and rents. Contractors in the state pulled more residential-building permits through the first five months of the year than they did in the same period last year, which was the best year for residential-construction activity since 2007.

In regards to Northern Colorado Real Estate, the Fort Collins area bucked regional residential real estate trends in June, with the median price on single-family detached homes declining compared with the same month a year ago. The figures are according to the latest stats released by the IRES Multiple Listing Service. The median home price in Fort Collins on 339 single-family detached sales in June was $270,000. That’s down from $290,200 in May and down from $274,000 a year ago. And it’s despite the number of active listings in the month dipping to 921 from 1,024 a year ago. Month by month, Fort Collins median prices this year had been up compared with last year every month except January.

The other major cities in Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley all experienced median price increases compared with a year ago as inventory dropped. Boulder had just 254 listings in June and 85 sales. The median sale price there was $726,335, down from May’s level of $758,500 but still 12.2 percent above where it was a year ago. In Longmont, listings were down 8.4 percent in June to 274, while median price rose to $274,450, up 5.6 percent from $260,000 a year ago. Greeley/Evans had the biggest drop in listings from a year ago at 16.3 percent as the median price there rose 10.2 percent to $195,000. That’s after dipping to $172,700 in May. The Loveland/Berthoud area, meanwhile, saw a 15.3 percent drop in listings from June 2013. Median single-family detached sale price was $272,250, up from $260,000 but down from $279,630 in May.

Source: Denver Post Colorado economy outpacing expectations in 2014.By Aldo Svaldi
Northern Colorado Business Report. By Joshua Lindenstein July 9, 2014.