Denver Real Estate Market Update – March 2019
The big news in Denver real estate in March was announced to the world earlier this month by the Denver Post. The year over year median home price in the Denver area dropped for the first time in seven years. Yes, it’s true! In February the median home price in Denver came in right at $400,000. This was up from January by 1.27 percent but down from February of 2018 by 1.23 percent. Not a huge decrease but a decrease non the less. And as said earlier, the first year over year decrease in seven years.
Average home price, however, did not go down. The average home price in February came in at $463,197. This is up 1.11 percent from January and up .66 percent from February of last year.
The average home price of a detached single family home is still over a half million dollars. In February that number came in at $512,312.
So, what does it all mean? When I read the article from the Denver Post I also read through the comments at the end of the article. Many people talked about the looming bubble burst and about home prices that were sure to tank. So, are we about to see major declines in our home prices?
In my opinion the answer is no. First of all, there is no indication that Denver’s home prices are inflated. Denver’s economy is good and people are still moving here.
I believe that home prices in the Denver area are just balancing out. They have hit a temporary ceiling. It was bound to happen. Double digit gains in home sales price is just not sustainable and it’s not healthy.
Plus all other factors indicate we are still in a thriving market. Take the number of under contract homes for example. We had 4,635 homes go under contract in February. That is up 5.6 percent from January. Okay, that’s to be expected but guess what? That’s also up 10.65 percent from February of 2018. That’s right, more homes went under contract this February.
Inventory is currently up by 47.35 percent over last year. (thank goodness) I believe this contributes to the leveling out of home prices. It may also contribute to the rise in under contract homes since buyers see they have more choices. During our tight inventory of the last few years I saw more than one homebuyer give up because they just couldn’t find a home they wanted.
Now, with increased inventory and home prices that have balanced out a bit don’t kid yourself into thinking it’s a buyer’s market. It is still a seller’s market in Denver. Of homes priced under one million dollars there is currently just under two months of housing inventory. Anything under five months of inventory is considered a seller’s market.
In the luxury market, homes priced over one million dollars buyers do hold the upper hand where this is nearly seven months worth of inventory on the market.
Although prices seemed to be balancing the Denver market is strong. Just this week 5280 Magazine published an article Don’t Be Fooled: Denver’s Real Estate Market Is Still Hot.
And in January Forbes named Denver’s real estate market the most competitive in the United States.
Planning to buy or sell a home in the Denver area contact Courtney Murphy for all your real estate needs. Courtney is a Denver metro Realtor and long time resident with experience in both resale and new built home sales.
