Although recently, it may be more like April SNOW showers brings May flowers! As we are in a dry climate, we need the moisture but I for one am ready for it to start getting warmer. Enough on the weather. Let’s jump into this month and see what’s been happening with the Denver Real Estate market:
Denver Metro Area Home Report: March
As we outlined last month, inventory levels with real estate should continue to tick higher as we head into summer, and as of the end of March we were sitting at 4,482 homes representing a 13% increase over the end of February. That is actually a higher level in inventory than we were at a year ago and the number of homes actually sold in March also took a 7% drop over this time last year, so this may be starting to show that home prices are starting to get a bit expensive for many buyers in the marketplace. The average median home price is now sitting at $345,000, representing a 9.52% increase over March of 2015 as well. However, with inventory levels continuing to hover around all-time lows, the demand for housing should remain strong into the immediate future.
The price bands for what is selling hasn’t changed much from what we’ve been writing about over the last few months either, as 75% of the homes in active inventory still sits at $400k and higher, so anything $350k and lower in price range is still the hot place to be for many buyers. Denver is rated the #3 hottest market in the nation falling behind San Francisco and Vallejo CA for comparison purposes.
Something I found interesting is in February, 61% of the homes sold nationally were under $250k in home value, compared to only 28% of the homes sold in the Denver market. Case in point, real estate is simply more expensive here as compared to the national averages. The new home building boom should continue to be strong into the immediate future as well with the limited inventory of homes for sale, and the timeframe for new builds still continues to sit at 10-12 months for completion.
If you are thinking about going this route, make sure you use careful timing in planning this out, especially if you have a home you need to sell first. You will likely need to consider a double move if going this route, so feel free to reach out to us and we would be more than happy to discuss some options with you as this may be a good time to capture the higher home prices in the Denver market.
Fun Facts:
My birthday was at the end of March, and my insurance agent always sends me out a birthday card with some tidbits of information from the year I was born (1972) compared to today. As I was reading it, I thought I would share some interesting facts over the last 44 years:
1972 2016 Percentage Change
New Domestic Car $4,034 $24,160 498%
Average Income $11,489 $53,657 367%
New Home $27,000 $292,300 982%
Bread (1 lb.) $0.35 $1.43 308%
US Population 207.6 322.1 55%
Interesting stuff, but notice anything? Real estate has obviously been a great place to be as that is typically the largest asset most people own. However, real estate appreciation has far outpaced the increase in average income by almost a 3 to 1 margin. This is probably why we see more two income households in this day and age, as most everything we use in our day to day lives has outpaced average income growth, in some cases by a wide margin. Food for thought.
Well that should wrap up the update for this month. As always, we hope you find these useful especially if you are considering a move with a real estate transaction.
Please remember to keep us in mind if you know of anyone needing help with their real estate needs, as your referrals are key to our success! Thanks as always for your continued trust and support, and please feel free to reach out to us if you should have any questions. Thanks!
