Metro Denver Real Estate Market Report - May 2019
Amidst more housing inventory and increased days on the market, Denver-area homes priced right are selling for top dollar.
#DMAR Market Trends
Data Source: REColorado
In April, the average single-family sold home price in metro Denver hit a record high of $553,371, and reached a year-to-date high of $527,244. The average condo sold price in April was $368,565, up 2.62 percent from March and up 2.17 percent year to date.
“Spring is a great time to take in the smell of the blooming bushes and put things into perspective because this month is all about perspective,” said Jill Schafer, Chair of the DMAR Market Trends Committee and Metro Denver REALTOR®. “Some housing market stats look like the sky is falling, but when put into perspective you can see why prices continue to go up in the Denver Metro area.”
It took twice as long to sell a house so far this year compared to this point in 2018. Schafer comments, “That sounds alarming, doesn’t it? The 100 percent increase is accurate, but when you realize that means the median went from six days on the market in 2018 to 12 days in 2019, it doesn’t look so bad. Less than two weeks on the market is still fast.”
Another example of the need for perspective is that April ended with 7,012 active listings. In the past four years, active listings at the end of April were in the low 5,000’s, so April is up 35.89 percent year to date compared to last year. That is significant, yet it is a seller’s market in every single price range according to Schafer. She adds, “Overall there is only 1.5 months of single-family housing inventory and 1.49 months of condo inventory. That is much lower than the 5-6 months of inventory needed to equalize the market between buyers and sellers.” Metro Denver had 7,518 new listings hit the market in April, up 21.28 percent from March, and homebuyers actively purchased the new choices with 18.76 percent more homes under contract month over month.
“More choices, more contracts, a tiny bit of negotiating room and prices still going up. No matter what your perspective is, that sounds like a good market to me,” Schafer states.
Our monthly report also includes statistics and analyses in its supplemental “Luxury Market Report” (properties sold for $1 million or greater), “Signature Market Report” (properties sold between $750,000 and $999,999), “Premier Market Report” (properties sold between $500,000 and $749,999), and “Classic Market” (properties sold between $400,000 and $499,999). In April 2019, 243 homes sold and closed for $1 million or greater – up 32.2 percent from March and 4 percent year over year. The closed dollar volume in the luxury segment year to date is already over $1 billion, up 1.61 percent from last year and up 41.47 percent from 2017.
The highest priced single-family home that sold in April was $8.5 million representing four bedrooms, eight bathrooms and 13,034 above ground square feet in Denver. The highest priced condo sale was $5,434,891 representing three bedrooms, four bathrooms and 3,816 above ground square feet in Denver. The listing and selling Realtors® for both transactions are DMAR members.
“This is no April Fool’s joke - the Luxury Market loved April,” said Andrew Abrams, DMAR Market Trends Committee member and metro Denver Realtor®. “This segment saw increased pricing, number of homes sold and overall sales volume compared to the previous month and year.”
Abrams adds, “While many feel that the million-dollar-plus market is becoming saturated and moving towards a seller’s market, based off of the stats, I would say that it is moving very slowly. For single-family homes, the months of inventory is 4.41, and for condos it is 3.24. Many Realtors® would still consider this a buyer’s market.” Both the average and median days on market decreased from the previous month and year. The median days on market was 14 days in April, down from 21 days in March and 19 days in April of 2018.
As the Greater Denver Metro area has grown, so has its homebuyer pool. The quantity of Luxury Market homes sold year to date in 2019 was similar to the previous year, 638 and 647 respectively. This is a drastic increase from 2015 to 2017 where the range was from 230 sold properties to 461, respectively. According to Abrams, this can be attributed to the strong economy and stability within the local Denver-area community.