The 2008 home sales figures for Boulder and surrounding communities are in…and let’s just say there is good news and bad news. Broomfield and Superior were the only communities that saw an increase in their median single family home price compared to 2007, while Longmont and the Suburban Plains saw the largest decrease. Attached homes (i.e. condos and townhomes) in Boulder, Superior and the Suburban Plains also showed increased median prices while Lafayette and Longmont declined. Here is a breakdown by area. I pulled these stats from the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) operated by IRES. Sales statistics are also available from the Boulder Area Realtors Association.

Boulder: Throughout most of the year, we saw median single family home prices bounce up and down about 1% per month, but when the “you know what” hit the proverbial fan in October and November, the median home price fell and ended up down 2% for the year. Attached homes did better with a substantial increase of 3.8% compared to last year.

Louisville: Single family homes were down 1.8% and attached homes declined at a similar 1.4%.

Lafayette: Single family homes down 2.3% but a sharper decline was felt in the attached home market, down a whopping 9.4%.

Longmont:Single family homes were down 8.3% and attached homes down by 6.9%. Not coincidentally, Longmont has seen the most foreclosures in Boulder County.

Broomfield: This was the highest performing community for single family homes. Their median price went up 12.8% from 2007. But not so for attached homes which fell 6.7%.

Superior:The only other community, besides Broomfield, to see an increase in single family home median price, up 3.2%. It also had the highest increase of any attached homes up 11.9%.

Mountains: Single family homes in the foothills went down 2.7%. There was not a significant number of attached home sales (only 1).

Suburban Plains: This area would include Gunbarrel, Erie and also homes in the county, but out of any of the named towns. Single family homes went down by 9.2% and attached homes went up by 10.2%.

So what trends are there for us to take away. It looks like the towns that are viewed as more affordable and that also have a lot of moderate priced single family homes showed the only increases – Superior and Broomfield. Buyers who prefer condos and townhomes were more likely to chose Boulder, Superior and the surrounding plains as they are the only areas that saw an increase.

Here are the stats going back to 2005 to give the numbers more perspective.

Annual Median Home Sale Prices 2005 – 2008 (Stats provided by MLS/IRES)

Area                 Year                 Single Family                Attached         

Boulder            2008                -2.0                              +3.8      

                        2007                +0.9                             +0.0

                        2006                +4.9                             +0.0

                        2005                +11.2                           +4.1

Louisville         2008                -1.8                              -1.4

                        2007                +7.3                             +14.4

                        2006                +6.8                             +6.1

                        2005                +4.0                             +1.6

 Lafayette         2008                -2.3                              -9.4

                        2007                -1.9                              -1.5

                        2006                -1.9                              +5.5

                        2005                +22.7                           +0.0

Broomfield       2008                +12.8                           -6.7

                        2007                +7.5                             +15.1

                        2006                +4.6                             +1.6

                        2005                +0.9                             -10.0

Superior           2008                +3.2                             +11.9

                        2007                +3.8                             -9.6

                        2006                -3.8                              -3.2

                        2005                +14.7                           +10.7

 Mountains      2008                -2.7                              n/a

                        2007                +1.4                             n/a

                        2006                +5.6                             n/a

                        2005                +13.7                           n/a

Plains               2008                -9.2                              +10.2

                        2007                +8.8                             +6.0    

                        2006                +2.8                             -7.8

                        2005                +3.7                             +4.3

Blog by elephant’s realtor, Liz Benson.