July 2024 Denver Metro Real Estate Update
If you care about real estate and haven’t been paying attention, now might be a good time to start.
As Bob Dylan once sang (sorta), “For the market it is a-changin’.”
Data provided by Megan Aller of First American Title in partnership with RE Colorado.
Across the 7 county Denver metro, we're down about 20,000 homes in annual home sales right with 38,000 homes sold in 2023 compared to 58,000 in 2021.
And January thru May 2024 isn’t looking any better than 2023.
This is a big deal because Denver’s population has GROWN by 500,000 since the last time home sales dipped below 40,000.
20,000 homes is also a MASSIVE drop off because the number of homes on the market has roughly doubled from 5,000 up to 9,000 and climbing.
In other words, home sales aren’t down because sellers aren’t selling.
Increasing numbers of sellers are reluctantly letting go of their 3% rates and putting their homes on the market, but fewer and fewer buyers can afford today's prices, so homes are sitting on the market longer.
Consequently homeowners are eventually caving to price reductions, with about 35% of current homes on the market reducing prices an average of $40K so far.
In time, this will prove to be a painful but natural part of a real estate market cycle.
Two Important Lines - Green and Red
This next graph says it all.
The bottom solid red line that runs Jan-May is 2024 home sales - and it’s trending well below the dotted red line above it, which shows our average market since 2013. June numbers have come in since this graph was created and June saw about 500 fewer home sales than May.
Running along the top of the roller coaster graph, you’ll notice a solid green line skyrocketing heavenward since March. This indicates the number of homes listed for sale that haven’t sold yet, and it’s well above the dashed-green line pace of the last decade.
Data provided by Megan Aller of First American Title in partnership with REColorado.
(Portions of chart data should read “2013-2019, 2023” not “2023-2019, 2023”)
This trend is likely to continue into the fall, the time of year our market normally slows down.
We can expect to see (recent) record highs for homes active on the market, with “For Sale” signs staying in yards longer, increasing numbers of price reductions by sellers who were proven a bit ambitious when they first went to market, and buyers having more consistent negotiation leverage on both contract price and inspection terms.
There are a lot of options available for buyers who can afford it, and selling takes a lot more work than just sticking a sign in the yard these days!
You must have an informed plan.
If you have a desire to buy or sell in the coming year, let’s chat.
Life has a way of keeping us all moving, and I love to be your real estate agent.
Contact me here to set up your free and confidential consultation.
Kevin
