Turns out we don’t get 300 days of sunshine in Colorado and we’re just as shocked as you!

Most Coloradans know to expect 300 days of sunshine but that’s simply not true and never has been.

The Denver Post

For areas of the northern Front Range, there is an average of 60 days of completely overcast conditions — think drizzly, dreary or damp days, according to Doesken’s research. So, for the claim to be true, one has to consider a partly or mostly cloudy day to be a sunny day since technically the sun shined for a least an hour and although this is a stretch, it’s the only way to validate us having 300 days of sunshine per year.

The truth is that Colorado does see a lot of sunshine but whether or not a day is deemed sunny or cloudy is based on updated definitions by the National Weather Service and hourly observations.

• A mostly clear or clear day is defined as cloud cover covering less than 25% of the sky.
• A partly cloudy day is defined as cloud cover covering about 26% to 69% of the sky.
• A mostly cloudy day is defined as cloud cover covering more than 70% of the sky.
• A completely overcast day is defined as cloud cover covering more than 88% of the sky.

Last year, Denver saw just 103 sunny days. The rest were partly to mostly cloudy. So far this year, we have only had 54 clear days as of Friday. You can do the math, but to hit the point home, we have more than 100 days left in the year and even if every day was completely clear, we’d barely even get half of the advertised number of sunny days this state boasts.

Sorry, Colorado — it’s not as sunny here as you thought!

Andy Stein is a freelance meteorologist.

For the rest of the story:

300 days of sun in Colorado? Turns out it's a myth and we're just as shocked as you (denverpost.com)

(44) SMDRA Statistics Video for April 2021 - YouTube

U.S. Home Sales Could Reach $2.5 Trillion This Year –That’s Facebook And Amazon’s Value Combined–Brokerage Predicts.....Palash GhoshForbes Staff

Brokerage firm said on Tuesday that home sales this year could reach a record high of $2.5 trillion as low mortgage rates, soaring demand for larger properties away from cities and still tight inventory keep pushing up market activity, along with prices.

This $2.53 trillion forecast marks a 17% year-over-year gain from $2.15 trillion in 2020, making it the biggest annual percentage increase since 2013.

The $2.53 trillion figure is about equal in value to France’s gross domestic product in 2020; or about the same as the combined market caps of tech giants Amazon and Facebook.

By region, the South is expected to register the highest home sales this year, at $1.09 trillion, followed by the West ($696.3 billion), the Midwest ($422.6 billion) and the Northeast ($322.8 billion). The benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate was at about 3% on Monday, and has been steadily declining from a recent peak of almost 5% in November 2018.

CRUCIAL QUOTE
“Housing has all the factors in its favor: demand exceeds supply, [mortgage and interest] rates are low, it’s a hedge against inflation, and the [Federal Reserve’s monetary policies are] stimulative to the economy, interest rates, and risk assets,” Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com, told Forbes. “Trees don’t grow to the sky and prices won’t continue to rise at this pace in perpetuity, but the good times can certainly keep rolling along given the favorable backdrop.”

The American real estate market has surged since the pandemic as record low mortgage rates and remote working arrangements have triggered the demand of millions of families for more spacious and cheaper accommodation away from urban areas. In tandem, a shortage of housing inventory had helped to boost home prices to new all-time highs.

Realtor explained home sales are mushrooming in the South as it has more vacant land on which to build, warm weather and has also attracted hordes of prospective homebuyers seeking affordability and space. Since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009, home sales in the South have almost tripled in value. "A lot of wealth from the coasts is shifting South," Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said. "Affluent homebuyers from New York and San Francisco have moved to places like Florida and Texas during the pandemic, which has fueled home sales and driven up prices in those areas." Andrew Kolodey, a Redfin real estate agent in Atlanta, Ga., noted, for example, that buyers are offering $50,000 or $70,000 over the list price in order to secure a home in the area. “We’ve never experienced this level of competition [before],” he added,

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Fairweather added the 2021 housing market will be even more active than last year was. “Homebuyers have a better sense of what the future looks like," he said. "Employers are providing clarity on permanent remote-work policies, the economy is recovering and mortgage rates remain low. All of these factors mean that we'll likely see even more buyers enter the market this year and in 2022." In addition, if mortgage rates were to appreciably rise, that would likely slow down the climb in home prices – which could, in turn, lead to even more home sales, Fairweather added.

BIG NUMBER
$348,500. That's how much the median home sale price surged to in May, after soaring 21% year over year. As home sales increased, the price of homes has also reached record highs.But while Fairweather is concerned about expensive housing, he does not expect the market to crash, because these “sky-high prices are supported by the new reality of well-funded buyers who are often benefiting from newfound mobility via remote work.”

U.S. Home Sales Could Reach $2.5 Trillion This Year –That’s Facebook And Amazon’s Value Combined–Brokerage Predicts (forbes.com)

By Charlie McCarthy | Tuesday, 11 May 2021 11:54 AM

Most Americans believe local home prices will continue to rise during the next year as the country moves on from the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new Gallup poll.

A total of 71% of U.S. adults predicted the average price of houses in their area will increase, according to a Gallup poll conducted April 1-21.

Those results were drastically different from a year earlier, when just 40% predicted an increase in home values amid mounting economic uncertainty at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Gallup also found 53% said it is a good time to buy a house, barely improved from last year's record-low 50%.

Although home values have risen to historical highs, the supply of available homes has not kept up with demand. However, the number of home sales has declined in recent months.

Gallup determined housing market activity in the coming months will be more telling, as spring and summer represent the usual peak homebuying season.

The current 71% saying home prices will rise is the highest total in Gallup's trend, though not statistically different from 70% in 2005, when there was a rapidly emerging housing bubble that eventually burst.

Each year between 2013-19, a majority of respondents expected home prices to rise. The low point was 22% in 2009, after the housing bubble burst.

From 2008-12, no more than 34% of Americans thought home prices would rise.

In the recent poll, only 10% predicted home values will decrease. That is down from 25% a year ago. A total of 18% believed there will be no change in housing prices.

The poll also found 41% of respondents choose real estate as the best investment – that was up from 35% a year ago. Stocks were a distant second. Gallup usually finds Americans regard real estate as the best long-term investment.

The coronavirus pandemic only had a temporary stalling effect on the housing market, which picked up steam thanks to the reduction of interest rates and several rounds of stimulus payments to Americans.

Also, with much work and school being done remotely due to COVID-19 health restrictions, many people were looking for new houses to accommodate their lifestyle changes. All that led to the supply of available houses not keeping up with demand.

Slim majorities also said it was a good time to buy a house in 1978, a time of high inflation and high mortgage interest rates, and in the mid-2000s housing bubble era.

Americans were most bullish on home buying in 2003, when 81% said it was a good time to buy a home despite home prices rising sharply.

Western residents (44%) were among the subgroups of Americans least inclined to say it is a good time to buy a house. The country's other regions said it was a good time to by a house by totals falling between 52% and 60%.

While Americans in all regions expected home prices to rise, Midwestern residents were slightly less likely to agree.

Also, respondents who said they lived in a "town" or "rural area" were less likely than those living in cities or suburban areas to predict an increase in local home values.

Gallup surveyed 961 adults from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., April 1-21, 2021, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Link to this article:

Gallup Poll: Americans Split on Whether to Buy Now Amid Rising Home Prices | Newsmax.com

Lakeside Idaho City Is America’s Hottest Housing Market in New WSJ/Realtor.com Index

Residential real estate is one of the world’s most popular investments. In the U.S. alone, the total value of owner-occupied real estate is roughly $32 trillion, nearly as much as the value of the entire U.S. stock market. And you can’t live in your stock portfolio. In order to help home buyers decide on the best place to make this important investment, The Wall Street Journal collaborated with Realtor.com to rank which housing markets are expected to provide both a strong return on investment—and are a nice place to live. 

By Nicole Friedman | Photographs by Rajah Bose for The Wall Street Journal
April 27, 2021 5:30 am ET

For The Rest of the Story

See the Full Rankings for WSJ/Realtor.com’s Emerging Housing Markets Index - WSJ