Sunday Reading – 11/26/2006
by Osman Parvez I didn't have time to post last week's Sunday reading. Now there's quite a backlog. Here's three articles to get you started. I'll post more in the next few days. 1. Hybrid Cars. I was driving down Broadway the other day and found myself counting hybrids. From the Holiday Neighborhood to Table Mesa, I must have passed two dozen or more. I'm not kidding. Priuses, Civics, Escapes, Insights, and Accords. One after another, a parade of clean and green machines. You could say that next to Subaru Outbacks, hybrids have become ubiquitous in the People's Republic. If [...]
Denver’s Commercial Recovery
by Osman Parvez The Wall Street Journal is reporting on the health of Denver's commercial market. The article notes that it's driven by job growth and strength in energy, finance, and professional service sectors. Office rents have increased as have prices for apartments downtown. The article also touches upon a how the tide of foreclosures are increasing demand for rental units. Second Quarter 2006 vs 2005, according to the article... Office vacancy has dropped from 19.2% to 17.6% Retail vacancy has dropped from 18.0% to 16.1% Apartment vacancy has dropped from 10.6% to 8.6% Median home prices are up from [...]
Recent Links
by Osman Parvez It's been awhile since I posted links. Here are a few recent real estate and development related stories that are worth checking out (some articles may require registration). Bad luck be damned, 29th Street's Grand Opening is Friday, October 13th. The Wild Oats store won't be ready but 88% of the mall is leased, according to developers. Louisville is moving closer to creating an urban renewal area along CO42, with the planning commission voting 5-1 to move the proposal forward. The future Fasttracks stop located in the same area is helping provide momentum. Noodles and Company have [...]
8th Most Expensive City? Not Really
by Osman Parvez The Daily Camera and Rocky Mountain News are reporting on a new study put out by the publishers of the Economist placing Denver as the 8th most expensive city in the United States. That's ahead of Boston if you exclude housing Huh?? Housing represents a big chunk of a typical family budget and excluding it makes this survey meaningless. I think these type of surveys should factor in the cost of housing and transportation for neighboring suburbs as well as the main city. In many areas surrounding Denver, for example areas within a 30 minute commute, 3BR [...]
House Price Index
by Osman Parvez The housing bubble blogs are using House Price Index charts developed using HPI data from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO). Perhaps you'd like to see how Boulder and Denver compare to markets where bubbles likely to exist? Ok, let's compare Boulder and Denver (green and red, respectively) with San Francisco, Boston, and Miami's real estate markets. As usual, click on the charts below for larger images. Looking at the chart above, it seems to me that when the telecom collapse followed the stock market crash, our region's real estate market cooled substantially relative to [...]
Denver Metro Existing Home Sales
by Osman Parvez There's an article from the Rocky Mountain News regarding Denver's existing home sales in 2004. Existing Home Sales: $14.9BN, 4% greater than '04. Average Price: $281,188 up 5.8% ~1,000 fewer homes were sold in '05 than in '04, a decrease of about 1.9%. Current Inventory: ~13% greater than the same time in '04. DOM: Homes sold an average of 90 days on market. An increase of 5.9% from '04 Appreciation rates this year were in the 4 to 6% range (the norm since 2002). In contrast, California and Florida posted bubble-like appreciation rates of more than 20% [...]
Home Ownership in Denver Increases
by Osman Parvez Home Ownership in Denver Increases. According to a study cited by this article, as of 2004, 71 percent of metro Denver households owned their own homes, compared with 66 percent in 1995 while the annual average metro Denver mortgage dollar volume rose to $10.6 billion from $4.2 billion, a whopping 155 percent, between 1992-94, the first period studied, and 1999-2002, the last period studied. Interestingly, this mostly "good news" article ignores the white elephant of risky mortgage products coupled with risky borrowers. Given the large percentage increase in subprime lending in Colorado, it comes as no surprise [...]
