I was talking to someone the other day about 2 story homes and I said, I’ve never had a buyer tell me they want to buy a 2 story home. I haven’t, never. Once in a while someone has said they’d consider a 2 story, if everything about it was just-so and the moon and stars were in the right orbit. But never, I want a 2 story.
And while it’s pretty clear from just casually observing the market that there’s a strong preference for 1 story homes, 2 story homes do sell. So I thought it worthwhile to see how sales of 1 story vs 2 story actually stack up.
As of today there are 445 1 & 2 homes for sale in the Foothills.
Of those, 106 are 2 story (24%) and 339 are 1 story(76%)
106 2 story for sale & 43 sold in six months = 14.8 month supply
339 1 story for sale & 237 sold in six months = 8.6 month supply
Or, looked at another way,
2 story homes = 24% of homes for sale & 15.4% of homes sold, while
1 story homes = 76% of homes for sale & 84.6% of homes sold
Or,
sales of 2 story homes in the last 6 months (43) = 40% of the current inventory (106) of 2 story homes for sale, while
sales of 1 story homes in the last 6 months (237) = 69% of the current inventory (339) of 1 story homes for sale.
And for the last 6 months, 2 story homes sold for an average of $167/sf, while 1 story homes sold for an average of $190/sf.
the average time to sell 2 story homes was 214 days, while the average for 1 story homes was 149 days.
No matter how you look at it, 2 story homes don't sell as well.
Back in the early days of the foothills very few 2 story homes were built. Most of the early 2 stories were those built on ridges and craggy slopes, where the lot pretty much dictated building 2 stories, in order to build a big enough house. It was either impossible or impossibly expensive to level the lot sufficiently to build a big enough 1 story. Take for example the big old 2 story estates built in the 60’s & 70’s high up in Skyline CC, on some of the sloppiest, craggiest lots around. And while that’s still true, I think, and I’m a little out of my depth here, that modern building equipment and techniques have made it somewhat more feasible at least, though still very costly, to level and prep some of those sites for a one story home.
But these days we’re seeing 2 story homes built down in the flats, where it would be a snap to build a 1 story. Why? Pure and simple, to squeeze more house on less land. The hell with what buyers want. That seemed to work pretty good for a while. AF Sterling built some 2 stories in the Villages of La Paloma and, when the market was roaring along, they sold out. But they’ve had less success at Paloma Ridge where everything was 2 story. So much less they’ve reversed course and started offering 1 story homes.
People buy them, but they buy fewer of them, and pay less for them.
see thefoothillsToday.com
to find your 1, 2 or even 3 story Foothills home
