Denver Real Estate Market Update – August 2018
In July Denver saw it’s normal seasonal decrease in market activity. Average home prices have declined and inventory is up.
July closed with 7,643 units on the market. This is a three year high for the Denver metro area. Inventory in July was up 2.7 percent from June and up 3.96 percent from July of 2017. Depending on area and price range buyers may find more choices of homes.
However, I was out with some buyers just last week in southeast Aurora. We found ourselves in a multiple offer situation on a home in the $650k price range. Despite this experience, I have seen more sellers decreasing the list price of their homes to get them sold.
In July the average sales price of a home in the Denver area came in at $479,802. This includes both detached homes and condos and town homes. Average sales price was down 1.93 percent from June and up 7.58 percent from July of 2018. The 1.93 percent drop from June to July is nothing to panic about. In both 2016 and 2017 average home sales prices dropped four percent from June to August. It’s just that time of year.
What I find most telling is the year over year change in average sales price. As I mentioned above, the average sales price was up 7.58 percent from July of 2017. Up until recently, average sales prices were up year over year in the double digits. Typically year over year gains were around ten percent. Last month, June 2018, year over year gains came in at 8.75 percent. Then in July we are up year over year 7.58 percent. This could likely indicate a slow in growth.
Is this reason to panic? No, I don’t believe so. Denver cannot continue to have ten percent year over year gains in home prices. We need a slower, more sustainable growth. And just because our growth lows doesn’t mean that home prices will decline.
The Denver economy is still strong. Just today I listened to a report on the the job market in Denver. Denver is one of the top ten cities for the lowest unemployment in the United States. We have had 5.5 percent job growth in 2018 alone. The average worker makes $29 per hour. And we have a high number of $100k per year jobs that are unfilled. Employers are still seeking employees from outside the state and thousands of people are still moving here per year.
I don’t worry that we will have any issues in our housing market anytime in the near future.
In July the average price for a detached home in the Denver area came in at $529,124. And the average price for an attached home, condos/townhomes, came in at $350,437.
In July 5,764 homes went under contract. This was down .36 percent from June and up 5.24 percent from July of 2017.
If you are planning to buy or sell a home in the Denver area contact Courtney Murphy. Courtney is a Denver metro Realtor serving Aurora, Parker, Castle Rock and beyond.
