denver area home sales fell in september, while inventory rises a record amount
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By Aldo Svaldi | Published on October 5, 2021
Metro Denver’s housing market continued slowing in September, with the number of homes and condos sold declining and the inventory of active listings on the market rising by a record monthly amount, according to an update from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.
“In August, we saw a relatively low amount of houses hit the market,” Andrew Abrams, chairman of the DMAR Market Trends Committee, said in the monthly Market Trends Report.
The number of homes and condos sold fell 10.9% to 5,233 between August and September, which is down by a fifth from the number sold in September 2020, when prices were lower and buyers were desperate to find more living space because of the pandemic.
The drop in sales was accompanied by a 10.9% monthly increase in active listings, which was much higher than the 0.8% gain typically experienced between the two months and a record for the two months. But supply, at 3,971 active listings, remains historically tight.
Prices remained fairly stable month-over-month, with single-family home prices falling while condo and townhome prices rose.
The median price buyers paid for a single-family home in September was $575,000, down 0.86% from August. For the year, the median price is up a strong 12.75%. For condos, the median closing price last month was $380,000, an increase of 1.9% and a 13.4% gain on the year.
CoreLogic, in a separate update to its home price index released Tuesday, said metro Denver home prices are up 19.5% on the year through August, which is above the 18.1% gain in its national home price index. But it labels Denver an “overvalued” market and predicts that prices will rise only 1.5% over the next 12 months.
Abrams said some buyers are waiting for home prices as the market cools down. But even if that does happen, buyers won’t necessarily see a lower monthly payment as worries about inflation put upward pressure on mortgage rates.
“If interest rates go up, even at a lower price, your payments could be more. Word of advice: Jump into the real estate market now. Those who wait will literally pay for it,” he said.
Abrams said the most competitive price range last month was for homes between $300,000 and $399,999 with only a half month of supply, while the most well-supplied segment was for properties costing over $1 million, where a 2.16 month’s supply was available to buyers.