Fort Collins, CO Federal Housing Finance Agency Home Price Index (FHFA HPI)

The Fort Collins, CO, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI) is a weighted, repeat-sales index that measures average price changes in repeat sales or refinancings on the same properties. The index covers single-family homes nationwide and offers a more timely and comprehensive measure of house price trends than other existing indices.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, the FHFA HPI for Fort Collins was 226.6, up 5.8 percent from a year earlier. This was the largest annual increase since the fourth quarter of 2005, when home prices in Fort Collins rose 6.4 percent from a year earlier.

Over the past decade, home prices in Fort Collins have increased at a slower pace than both national and state averages. From 2009 to 2019, prices in Fort Collins rose 36 percent, compared with 46 percent nationally and 54 percent statewide. Despite this slower growth, home prices in FortCollins are now at an all-time high.

The recent acceleration in price growth can be attributed to several factors: strong job growth, low mortgage rates, limited housing supply, and population growth from net migration. Job growth has been particularly strong in recent years; between 2018 and 2019 alone, employment inFortCollins grew by 4 percent—nearly double the national rate of 2 percent. Low mortgage rates have also made buying a home more affordable for many families; according to Freddie Mac data cited by Zillow Research analysts Kristin Myersand Skylar Olsenin early 2020 report on UHFAs across the country , “the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has fallen about 1 percentage point since November 2018…[to] just under 4 percent as of November 2019." This decline in rates has helped offset some of the impact of rising home prices on affordability . Lastly , population growth from net migration has contributed to demand for housing; according to Census data , Colorado’s population grew by an estimated 1.4 percent between July 2018 and July 2019—the second-fastest rate among all states .