Real estate transactions recorded by the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s Office last year increased 35% from a year earlier, jumping from 65,862 documents filed in 2019 to 88,802 filed in 2020, according to the county office’s staff.
That increase has been continuing in 2021. As of May, real estate transaction filing documents were up a record 42% from the same point in 2020.
The Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s Office’s Recording Division records such real estate documents as deeds, deeds of trust, liens, and subdivision plats for public notice. While a breakdown of the types of real estate filings was not immediately available Tuesday night, Mircalla Wozniak, a spokesperson for the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s Office said the increases appeared to primarily be due to population changes and record low interest rates for home refinancing.
Those statistics were part of a “Public Accountability and Services Report” the Boulder County Clerk’s Office released Tuesday, documenting what the clerk’s staff said in a news release was its first such report about key service facts and accomplishments for the office’s Elections, Motor Vehicle and Recording divisions.
Additional data provided by Wozniak on Tuesday night showed the real estate document filings swing from year to year. There were 73,308 in 2015, 72,871 in 2016, 66,838 in 2017 and 58,331 in 2018.
The Boulder County Clerk’s Recording Division also records documents about marriage licenses and civil unions. The material from Wozniak tallied 2,484 marriage licenses and four civil union documents filed in 2015; 2,322 marriage licenses and six civil unions filed in 2016; 2,351 marriage licenses and 14 civil unions filed in 2017; 2,356 marriage licenses and 11 civil unions filed in 2018; 2,419 marriage licenses and 14 civil unions filed in 2019; and 1,805 marriage licenses and one civil union document filed last year.
The Elections Division registers voters and conducts elections. The report stated the office’s Elections Division maintains more than 230,000 active voter registration records, including an average of 2,500 new or changed records per week in 2020 and about 1,800 per week thus far in 2021.
The office’s Motor Vehicle Division certifies motor vehicle titles and registrations and acts as a division of the Colorado State Department of Revenue. According to the 2020 report, the Motor Vehicle Division last year processed 351,554 transactions, including ones done in-person, online, at self-service kiosks, by mail, at drop-off locations or over the telephone.
Information was not immediately available Tuesday night about how last year’s Motor Vehicle Division transactions compared to previous years.
“Public accountability is about reporting out the facts and statistics on the work that is being done, including the behind-the-scene processes that are often unknown to the public,” Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Molly Fitzpatrick said in a news release about Thursday’s report.
Fitzpatrick said, “As public servants, we thrive on a job well done and being able to assist those in need. As clerk, I appreciate the tremendous amount of work that is being done by our team to provide these services to the public. Our office really does touch so many people’s lives, which is why I wanted to document our work for our residents. I also truly believe that reporting out these facts helps keep us accountable to the public.”
The report covers statistics and highlights from 2020 through June of this year. Going forward, each annual report will look back at the previous 12 months.
The report can be found online at BoCo.org/2021ClerkServicesReport.
For more information about each division, people can visit the clerk’s office’s division websites: Elections, bouldercounty.org/elections; Motor Vehicle, bouldercounty.org/records/motor-vehicle; and Recording, bouldercounty.org/records/recording.
