Struggling under the weight of a housing crisis: Higher rent, lower vacancies affect all aspects of Fort Collins life
For the real estate market
As rent rates increase, purchase prices for investment properties and future rentals are also skyrocketing.
Leslie Leis, a real estate agent with NoCo Home Team licensed through ERA Herman Group Real Estate, said an increased need for housing has caused a spike in investors, who compete with first-time home buyers.
“Purchase prices are going way over list price and you’re seeing stronger contracts with more money down because people are doing whatever they can to get properties because they know they can get them rented,” Leis said. “They’re also starting to ask in contracts to be able to advertise properties for rent prior to closing — something that hasn’t been a huge deal here until the last year.”
Her partner, fellow agent Danielle “Dee” Bundy, said the average purchase price for a non-owner occupied purchase — or rental property — has skyrocketed to $213,000 this year, up $14,000 from last year.
Bundy worries that as Colorado State University continues to draw in more students, conditions are only going to get more dicey for those trying to find a place to live — whether a rental or home.
“We are in a unique situation because of the fire victims — and influx that’s more situational than a true economic condition so some of this will taper off,” she said. “But CSU has all of these plans in the works for future expansion and those students will need places to live. Where are they going to stay?”
“And because of the three-unrelated rule, you can’t pack seven students in a house to save rent and consolidate student housing anymore,” Leis added. “It’s spreading out our invester and rental locations in town.”
As more properties “get gobbled up,” realtors are beginning to see a downward trend in the ratio of houses going on the market versus those coming off — something Leis hasn’t seen in several years.
“One day last week, zero homes came on the market,” she said. “You also have people not selling because they’re turning their home into a rental property, further decreasing the amount of available new properties for us to work with.”