The real estate market plays an important part in everyone’s life, as you can always draw a comparison to the prices of the real estate market and the world around you. Here is my story.
In 1979, I was born in Houston. A gallon of gasoline cost 86 cents, a brand new Toyota Corolla cost $3,698 and the average home price in the United States was $13,560.
In 1992, my family moved to Durango. A gallon of gas cost $1.06, Ross Perot announced that he would run as an independent third party candidate against Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush in the race for the White House, and 138 homes were sold in Durango for an average of $113,257.
In 1998, I graduated from Durango High School. The average price for a gallon of gas was $1.05. The average price of a movie ticket was $4.69, and the average sales price for a home in Durango was $200,090.
In 2001, I graduated from Fort Lewis College. Al-Qaeda attacked the United States in New York City, leaving nearly 3,000 people dead. The average price for a gallon of gas was $1.46, and the average home price in Durango was $245,585.
In 2002, I married my high school sweetheart in June. The average gas price per gallon was $1.61. Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother of the United Kingdom, died, and the average home price in town Durango was $276,538.
In 2007, my youngest daughter was born at the new Mercy Regional Hospital. A gallon of gas cost $3.37. An ounce of gold cost $630. The average price for homes sold in Durango was $448,649.
Durango was not immune to the nationwide financial collapse that began in 2007 (in-town Durango home prices dropped on average 4.6 percent in 2007, 2.5 percent in 2008, 4.5 percent in 2009 and 9.8 percent in 2010) and prices began to climb again in 2011. Based on the end of 2015 numbers, the average in- town Durango home was $433,025.
Based on those numbers, if you bought a house in Durango in 1992 (based on the average home sales price of $113,257) and you sold based on the average today at $433,025, your property value went up 382 percent. Not a bad rate of return when you look at what other investments such as the stock market have done over the same amount of time, and also an interesting history lesson at the same time.
Jerome Bleger is the 2015-16 president of the Durango Area Association of Realtors and a broker for The Wells Group and can be reached at Jerome@wellsgroupdurango.com and 970-375-7004.
