I’ve heard some very interesting things recently about the housing market in Fort Collins. The most concerning came from one of the leaders at The Group Real Estate. “The unprecedented rise in appreciation of housing, and the dramatic reduction in home inventory, is really concerning us.” The latest Metro Study shows new home prices pushing toward an average of $500,000 in Fort Collins, and existing home sales averaging above $415,000. Townhome and Condo prices have appreciated almost 18% in the past 12 months to over $310,000. That's an alarm bell. While many factors impact this including a dramatic rise is material, water, and labor costs, possibly the most concerning issue is shown in the attached chart. Available lots in North Colorado, and Fort Collins in particular, are at dangerously low levels. I've also attached a chart showing the projections of historic underdevelopment of housing in Fort Collins in the coming years.
Some people may say, “great keep it that way”. I can understand folks wanting to keep Fort Collins the town it was 20-30 years ago. But as my friend from The Group said, this has severe consequences. “Fort Collins has always been a great blend of affordability and quality of life, and a sanctuary from a ‘big city’ mentality, but that’s changing very quickly.” Another implication is growth will come via apartments, not in owned housing. Long term that presents many challenges to communities. There is clearly an “apartment wave” happening in Fort Collins today.
Can Montava change this? By itself no, but we can certainly make a positive impact. There are two things we are requiring from our very select group of builder partners: 1) every home built in Montava will be built to the Zero Energy Ready Home and WaterSense standards and 2) we are building a community with the widest, most diverse housing types possible. It will be a true New Urbanist community, and will not be your typical neighborhood of houses. Our goal is to provide every practical housing type and option available to people in this great city, so the couple who together make $80-100,000 aren't forced to go to Greeley to buy a home.
In fact, in the next two weeks I am traveling with the owner and leadership team of Thrive Home Builders to study some of the most creative “attainable” housing options being built today. Our goal is to make a difference by developing Montava, and this is just one of the many ways we intend to do that. We are going to do everything in our control to build a community that both honors and adds to the legacy of Fort Collins, one of the greatest cities in America.
