Denver-area home prices exceed pre-recession peak, says Zillow

Home values in the Denver metro area have gone above and beyond their highest pre-recession levels, and are predicted to keep rising, according to the data released Monday by Zillow.com.

In addition to exceeding their previous peak, home values are expected to continue their upward trend, growing by 1.8 percent over the course of the next year, from first-quarter 2014 to the same period in 2015.

Nationally, home values are expected to increase by 4.2 percent over the next year.

Not only have home values in Denver returned to their peak, but only three other metro areas surveyed by Zillow Inc. (Nasdaq: Z) have done the same. Austin, Texas; San Jose, California; and Pittsburgh are the only other areas in the country that can make such a claim.

In June, the median home value rose 8.9 percent year-over year to $256,800, and rose by 0.6 percent between the first and second quarters, according to the Zillow Home Value Index. The index measures the value of all homes, not just those sold in a particular period.

Brighton, Commerce City and Wheat Ridge saw the largest gains in home values year-over-year in June, increasing by 14.4 percent, 13.2 percent and 11.7 percent, respectively.

On the other end of the spectrum, Littleton's home values increased 4 percent from June 2013 and Broomfield's increased by 5.2 percent.

The highest home values can be found in Evergreen, at $427,100, while Aurora's homes remain the least expensive at $181,600 in June.

This simply means that it is TIME TO SELL if a homeowner would like to make a nice bonus this year and move into a bigger (or smaller) home.

Colorado foreclosures down 43% from a year ago

The Denver Business Journal just reported that Colorado’s foreclosure filings dropped nearly 43 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, according to RealtyTrac’s mid-year foreclosure report.

Colorado had 6,416 properties with foreclosure filings from January to June, or one in every 345 household units, said RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif.-based private marketer of foreclosure properties.

The state had the 28th highest foreclosure-filing rate in the nation for the first half of the year among the 50 states. It was consistently in the top 10 states in 2011 and 2012.

In June, Colorado had 564 foreclosure filings, or one in every 3,921 housing units, a drop of 57 percent from June of 2013. The state had 195 completed foreclosures in June, according to RealtyTrac.

Nationwide, a total of 613,874 properties had foreclosure filings in the first half of the year, down 23 percent from the same period a year earlier.

This is essentially yet another sign that this real estate market in 2014 is completely different than the beginning of the recession in 2008, the bottom of the market in early 2011, and even the bounce back of last year 2013. This is a different animal folks, but still good for both sellers (who can sell very high right now with little competition), and buyers (who can still get great interest rates and pay less than renting for a mortgage, which can also be their investment and ticket to wealth). 

Average Interest Rates over the Decades