DENVER, CO – Real estate investment firm Hamilton Zanze (HZ) has bought Environs Residential Rental Community in Westminster, Colorado, for a buy price of $82 million.

The unique community is spread across 33 acres of land and had a most recent occupancy rate of 92% at the time of sale. Offering 318 rental units, the community is a mix of market-rate single-family houses, patio homes, townhomes, and condominiums. The buy brings the firm’s total Colorado portfolio to 15 properties, with nine of those in the Metro Denver area. 

“Environs presented an opportunity to buy a fantastic asset in a strong submarket,” said David Nelson, managing director of acquisitions for Hamilton Zanze. “With all of the demand for single family homes today, we believe this property’s unique mix of condominiums, townhomes, patio homes, and houses will appeal to a wide renter pool around the region.”

Built in 1984, Environs Residential Rental Community is located at 3323 W 96th Circle in Westminster. The community is designed around a lush landscape, with simple walkability in mind. Its 383,653 net leasable square feet includes numerous amenities including an updated clubhouse, a 24-7 fitness center, two pools, a basketball court, and outdoor barbecue areas. 

HZ bought the property from Seagate, who owned it for four years. Select units have been upgraded with black or stainless-steel appliances, new cabinetry, new lighting packages, refinished countertops, and new vinyl plank flooring. HZ plans to undertake similar upgrades to the remaining 119 units. Property management responsibilities will be transitioned to Mission Rock Residential, HZ’s Denver-based affiliate.

The Metro Denver market is home to one of the nation’s most educated workforces and a diverse industry mix that include the aerospace, healthcare, technology, and manufacturing sectors. Westminster, a northwest suburb of Denver just 10 miles from the Colorado State Capitol, is the seventh most populous city in Colorado. The community is located along the U.S. 36 Tech Corridor and is well-positioned to attract both the Denver and Boulder workforce populations.

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SEATTLE, WA – For the first time since 2012, rents nationwide remained at the same level as they were a year earlier, with a median rent of $1,440.

Annual rent appreciation has slowed for six straight months, according to the August Zillow Real Estate Market Report. Rent appreciation has remained below 3 percent annual increase for the past 27 months after growing as quick as 6.6 percent in July 2015.

The median rent fell on an annual basis in 19 of the 35 largest markets. Rent declined the most in Portland, Ore., where the $1,834 median is 1.8 percent lower than in August 2017. The typical rent is growing fastest in Riverside, Calif., where it rose 3.7 percent over the past year to $1,899.

It’s not only rent appreciation that slowed in August: Home value appreciation is at its slowest pace in two years. Nationally, home values rose 6.5 percent over the past year to a median value of $216,700, down from a peak post-recession annual appreciation rate of 8.2 percent in March 2018. In August 2017, home values were increasing 7.4 percent annually.

San Jose is seeing the fastest home value appreciation, up 22.7 percent since August 2017. Las Vegas and Atlanta are the only other two large markets where home values grew at a double-digit pace, up 12.0 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively. 

“Earlier this year, the housing market was a tale of diverging paths, with rents steadily cooling and home values picking up speed. Normally rents and home values are tied together, but strong apartment construction and a surge of young homebuyers contributed to this historical anomaly. As summer turns to fall, the more typical pattern is reemerging, as rents and home values are both slowing in unison,” said Zillow Senior Economist Aaron Terrazas. “The feverish housing crunch of the past few years seems to be cracking. Slower rent growth means that renters may feel less urgency to buy. While home values continue to grow at double their historic pace, the speed of appreciation is down sharply from its spring highs.”

In August, there were 3.6 percent fewer homes for sale than the year before. The lack of available homes has been a defining characteristic of the housing market for several years, but this trend is easing. Inventory has fallen on an annual basis for 43 consecutive months, but the speed of its decline has slowed substantially. A year ago, inventory was down 13.1 percent from the previous year. 

Among the largest U.S. housing markets, the largest inventory declines are in Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Columbus, where inventory is falling at a double-digit pace. 

The number of available homes on a given day is on the rise in more than half of the nation’s largest markets, but they are returning from very low levels. Inventory is at its lowest point since 2015 in nearly every large market. 

Mortgage rates on Zillow finished August at 4.32 percent. Rates were highest at the beginning of the month, when they were at 4.43 percent. Zillow’s real-time mortgage rates are based on thousands of custom mortgage quotes submitted daily to anonymous borrowers on the Zillow Mortgages site and reflect the most recent changes in the market.

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ORLANDO, FL – Florida’s housing market reported more sales, more new listings and higher median prices in August compared to a year ago, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors. Sales of single-family homes statewide totaled 26,273 last month, up 4.2 percent compared to August 2017.

“August marked the second month in row that Florida’s housing market experienced a rise in new listings, which is a excellent sign for potential homebuyers,” said 2018 Florida Realtors President Christine Hansen, broker-owner with Century 21 Hansen Realty in Fort Lauderdale. “New listings for existing single-family homes rose 6.6 percent compared to a year ago and new listings for condo-townhouse properties increased 4.1 percent from last August.

“At the same time, the median time for a sale to go to contract is getting shorter: For single-family homes, it was 36 days, down 2.7 percent; for condo-townhouse properties, it was 46 days, down 6.1 percent. With such a quick turnaround time to contract, a Realtor with local expertise can help buyers and sellers navigate the market.”

August marked the 80th consecutive month (over six and a half years) that the statewide median sales prices for both single-family homes and condo-townhouse properties rose year-over-year. The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes was $254,290, up 6.0 percent from the previous year, according to data from Florida Realtors Research Department in partnership with local Realtor boards/associations. The statewide median price for condo-townhouse units in August was $185,000, up 8.8 percent over the year-ago figure. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less. 

According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), the national median sales price for existing single-family homes in July 2018 was $272,300, up 4.6 percent from the previous year; the national median existing condo price was $248,100. In California, the statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in July was $591,460; in Massachusetts, it was $423,250; in Maryland, it was $299,900; and in New York, it was $285,000.

Looking at Florida’s condo-townhouse market, statewide closed sales totaled 10,365 last month, up 6.6 percent compared to a year ago. Closed sales data continued to reflect fewer small sales and foreclosures in August: Small sales for condo-townhouse properties dropped 18.8 percent and foreclosures fell 28.9 percent year-to-year; while small sales for single-family homes declined 34.2 percent and foreclosures fell 30.1 percent year-to-year. Closed sales may occur from 30- to 90-plus days after sales contracts are written.

“The dominant tale across Florida’s housing markets over the past couple of years has been the shortage of single-family homes for sale, but in the July numbers, instead of the usual year-over-year decline, we saw that inventory was virtually unchanged from the level we reported for July of 2017,” said Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor. “So the question is, is this the beginning of a trend? According to the newly released August data from Florida Realtors, it very well could be.

“As of August 31, we found that the statewide inventory of single-family homes was up 4.5 percent compared to the same point in time last year, marking the first tangible year-over-year increase we’ve seen in end-of-month inventory in over three-and-a-half years. Should single-family inventory levels continue to rise, especially in the price tiers where demand is the greatest, we can probably expect some acceleration in sales growth and more modest rates of price growth.”

According to Freddie Mac, the interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.55 percent in August 2018, up from the 3.88 percent averaged during the same month a year earlier.

To see the full statewide housing activity reports, go to Florida Realtors Media Center.

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