Weld County housing market gaining strength

Weld County's residential market is picking up steam, albeit slowly, according to new statistics and industry professionals.

John DeWitt, managing broker of Re/Max Alliance of Greeley and chairman of the board of Upstate Colorado, says that both new and existing home sales are up, and home prices are increasing, however incrementally.

Existing home sales have increased in recent months, while new housing developments are also becoming more attractive to those in the market, according to DeWitt.

Buyers are willing to pay more for a new house than an existing one, DeWitt said, and following the recent wave of foreclosures, developers can build homes on vacant lots in a subdivision at lower cost than in previous years.

According to the most recent data by Information and Real Estate Services LLC, a multiple listing service for Northern Colorado sponsored by the boards and associations of Realtors in Fort Collins, Loveland-Berthoud, Greeley, Longmont and Boulder, the median home price in Greeley/Weld County was $136,900 in July, up 1.4 percent from $135,000 in July 2010.

"The market has picked up year-over-year and prices have come up in some neighborhoods simply because there is less inventory," DeWitt said.

IRES data released