Bayfield real estate market expects slowdown, but lower prices could revive demand – The Durango Herald

Real estate agent Jarrod Nixon says lower interest rates and sales prices could affect demand

The Bayfield home market is expected to cool off in the coming weeks, but there is a chance that lower prices and lower interest rates could reignite demand for certain properties.

Bayfield home sales prices, which have been gradually declining, are expected to remain stable again in September and October. However, that doesn't necessarily mean demand will slow down.

“As (interest) rates drop and there are more storage options, we expect demand to increase,” said Jarrod Nixon, a Coldwell Banker real estate agent in La Plata County.

He said rising inventory and competition in the market would put pressure on home sellers to lower prices. And yet, rising demand from people looking to take advantage of lower interest rates would potentially shrink inventory and force home sellers to raise prices, he added.

“If you pay 5%, your payment goes down. If the interest rate is lower, your payment goes down,” he said.

Nixon said some of the key factors in the Bayfield market are more first-time buyers and more “paying-conscious” housing options for workers. As a result, he expects this particular clientele could drive additional sales.

He also pointed out that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is expected to announce a rate cut in mid-September, which could cause some people to “get off the sidelines.”

“After talking to some local lenders, they expect we will see interest rates in the high fives,” Nixon said.

The regional interest rate has fallen from nearly 7 percent in July to around 6 percent as of Wednesday for qualified buyers, he said.

From March 1 to May 29, 15 townhomes and 18 cottages were sold in Bayfield, according to data from the Durango Area Association of Realtors.

During the same period, homes in the city were on the market an average of 81 days and sold for an average price of $528,906. Homes in the country were on the market an average of 138 days during the same period and sold for an average price of $658,055.

In June and July, single-family homes in the city spent an average of 108 and 67 days on the market, respectively, and sold for median prices of $445,500 and $564,625, respectively, according to data from the Colorado Association of Realtors.

During the same period, townhouses spent an average of 216 and 104 days on the market, respectively, and sold for average prices of $390,000 and $326,667, respectively.

In June and July, rural single-family homes spent an average of 130 and 59 days on the market, respectively, and sold for average prices of $1,361,357 and $431,571, respectively.

Nixon said June's average rural single-family home sales were largely due to some unusually high sales of million-dollar properties, citing the $550,000 median sales price that month.

“There happened to be a couple of big sales in June that skewed those numbers. Those were outliers,” he said, adding that the median sales price in June gives a more accurate picture.

He also said that during the summer, people were “more aggressive” in trying to sell their properties before winter.

“You don't have to deal with snow and everything else. The houses are more available in the summer than in the winter months,” he said, adding that people are more likely to take their homes off the market in November.

[email protected]

Copy article link