Are you looking to find your home sweet home in rocky Colorado but have no idea how the market is? Do you want to know the best time to buy a house in COLORADO?
Starting the process at the right time is one approach to making buying a house easier. Housing availability, mortgage rates, and market trends in Colorado may vary from month to month.
What’s the Best Time to Buy a Home in Colorado?
Buying a house is no easy task. In fact, it can be really stressful. You’ll need to fill out a lot of forms, go all around checking properties, and not to mention investing a huge amount of your savings.
In real estate, apart from location, timing is important. How much you pay for a house also depends on the day, week, month, or season you decided to make the purchase. Add to that the availability of a house in a given area.
Season
Seasons affect the real estate market. Home buying peaks in the summer and slows down in winter. A lot of potential buyers look for a house in summer since school is out which makes it easier for buyers to move without disrupting kids’ schooling, and the weather is nice.
Since home buying peaks in the summer, you can expect a lot of people looking to purchase a house as well. This would mean a lot of competition. And with a lot of potential buyers looking for the same house as you, you need to be prepared to give sellers your best offer because the other buyers will.
Of course, if you are looking for a house in very desirable neighborhoods or ones near downtown, competition is expected.
Month
If price and not the location is your top priority, research has shown that the lowest prices for houses would bin in February with March often being the most expensive month to buy. House prices tend to peak in November and would slowly decline by January.
Summer is the peak season when inventory and demand are high. Winter on the other hand is where it slows down. So if you’re looking for the perfect month to buy a house, consider buying around August to September when summer’s over but winter is still a few months off. This means there’s still enough inventory but the prices are not going to be as high.
However, the market can change from year to year no matter how much seasonal predictability the market has.
Week
As mentioned earlier, the sweet spot to purchase would be between August and September. So if you’re looking for the best time to buy a house in Colorado, it would be the first week of Fall. By this time, the competition isn’t as fierce in the peak season, but inventory is still relatively high.
Day
According to 20-year data provided by RealtyTrac, a real estate information company, buyers who made their purchases on a Monday had an average discount of 2.3% with Friday coming in second at 2.0%.
Best Time Overall
Late summer or early fall would be the best time to buy a house in Colorado. Inventory around this time is still healthy and there will be less competition.
However, if you want to have more negotiating power, you might want to consider buying in winter. There may be fewer homes to choose from but you can get a really good offer.
Which are the Best Places to Buy a House in Colorado?
Superior
This neighborhood has plenty of malls, restaurants, and theaters and has a population of about 13,000. Owing to its name, it can provide superior entertainment and shopping needs compared to other places.
Pine Brook Hill
Situated not around Denver but in Boulder County, Pine Brook Hill is a great choice for buyers that have kids still in school. Schools in this area are highly rated.
Westminster
Many young professionals and families choose to live in Westminster for the dense suburban feel it offers. There are also a lot of parks, restaurants, and coffee shops around the area.
Wellshire
Wellshire residents enjoy natural recreation areas within driving distance as well as the amenities that the area provides. This is one neighborhood in Denver that has garnered a lot of attention as one of the best places to buy a house.
South Park Hill
South Park Hill is a family-oriented neighborhood that has an urban feel with most people owning their own homes. It has good public schools as well.
Should I Buy a House in Colorado Now?
Denver is a fantastic city to live in. But if you can’t afford to buy your own house, it might not be a good idea to risk your savings and buy now.
Despite low national mortgage rates, Denver property prices have risen significantly in the past year. Home values are also inflated on a national level and will not likely change until additional homes hit the market.
The Denver Metro region has just 1,477 active properties on the market at the start of January 2022. This is 11,175 fewer than usual. Due to continued demand for homes and a scarcity of inventory, the market is predicted to appreciate by double digits in 2022.
According to the most recent DMAR (The Denver Metro Association of Realtors) data, the average price of a single-family detached house in the Denver metropolitan region grew by 3.93 percent to $825,073 from the previous month. The monthly mortgage payment for a buyer has grown as a result of rising prices and interest rates in recent months.
For detached residences, the average close-price-to-list-price ratio was 107.29 percent in April. The close-price-to-list-price ratio shows how the market reacted to the increase in supply a month ago. A high list-to-sell ratio implies a strong real estate market with fewer price negotiations between buyers and sellers. With many people refinancing their homes because of cheap interest rates above 5%, there is little reason to relocate financially.
The market’s available inventory is already being affected by higher interest rates. The inventory in the Denver metro region still remains low, with 610 fewer properties on the market a year ago than there are now. Month over month, inventory on the market normally rises by 8.59 percent. It climbed by an incredible 44.26 percent this month.
Inventory for properties sold for $1 million or greater, or the ones considered to be part of the luxury market, is on a rise compared with last year’s numbers at this time. Luxury market inventory is showing an increase of 57.65%. More properties will be entering the Luxury Market however due to inflation merely based on the asking price or, more likely, as a consequence of bidding wars that end at 20% or more over the initial asking price.
Although the Denver Metro Area is a strong seller’s market, historically low mortgage interest rates have aided buyers in terms of home affordability. If the supply of homes for sale in Denver exceeds six months, it may become a buyer’s market. That isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. The metro Denver housing market’s monthly supply of inventory has decreased to 0.52 months, the lowest April on record.
Denver is a fantastic city to live in and can really be a great place to set down roots. But if you can’t own a house, risking your money to buy now is not worth it. Instead, you might want to wait and see what inventory looks like in a few months before you consider buying.
FAQs
Will house prices go down in Colorado, or Will they Keep Rising?
Home values are inflated nationwide and in the past year, there has been a spike in Denver home values. In the Colorado housing market, demand exceeds supply. It has made it more difficult to locate a place to call home. There are more buyers than houses, resulting in a seller’s market where prices continue to rise.
Over the past six or seven years, home values have risen dramatically that a person earning the area’s median wage will have trouble affording it. However, it certainly saw a cooling trend in 2019, with housing prices rising by only 1%. The year concluded with a median house price of $420,000 and an average price of $486,695. This rose less than 3% from 2018, but over 90% since 2010.
The average house value in Denver City In March 2021 was roughly $504,000. Home prices have increased by 24.3% over the last year making Denver a seller’s market. This means that there is more demand than there is supply, giving sellers the edge over buyers in price bargaining.
The Denver appreciation rate has been about 22.86% in the last twelve months alone, and it has been 7.88% in the last quarter. If this trend continues, the annualized rate of appreciation will be 35.46 percent. This would indicate that property values in this area are expected to rise over the next year.
Is it expensive to live in Colorado?
According to U.S. News & World Report, Colorado is among the top 10 most expensive states to live in. This is because housing is 34% more expensive in Colorado compared to the rest of the country. Mortgage can go as high as $1,750 while rent can go for $1,300. However, this is offset by the lesser expense in utilities and groceries compared to the average person.
So When is the Best Time to Buy a House in Colorado
There are several reasons why the Denver real estate market is thriving today and will continue to do so for many years to come. And due to the steady appreciation rate of real estate in Denver, buying a house may be a worthwhile investment.
But the best time to buy a house in Colorado is when you are financially ready and are comfortable with the market conditions. When you can handle the responsibility and work needed to own a house of your own.
If you have the budget and find a house that ticks all the boxes on your list, then you should go ahead with the purchase. However, if buying now means taking out a large mortgage that may not be as affordable, you might want to wait.
But when you feel that you are ready to take that step, make sure to look for a good agent that can help you make the process easier.
