Like large raindrops kicking up the dust as they hit parched and barren soil, metro Denver recorded an 81% jump in the number of residential properties available for sale last month, according to a monthly update from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.
That inventory surge, which outstrips the 6.4% gain averaged between February and March, was driven in part by a 43.6% increase in new listings last month.
That huge percentage gain, however, comes off an extremely low number of listings available for sale in February. Even with the big increase, there were only 2,221 active condo and single-family homes for sale in metro Denver at the end of March, a fraction of the 13,917 averaged between 1985 and 2021.
“Those additional 995 new listings on the market at the end of the month will slightly aid the balance of supply and demand,” said Andrew Abrams, chairman of the DMAR Market Trends Committee, in comments accompanying the report.
Earlier in the year, buyers were competing by making offers that ran six figures above the original list price, but that is becoming less common, he said. Rates on 30-year mortgages have topped 4.5%, pricing more buyers out of the market, but it hasn’t crushed demand.
The number of closings rose nearly 27% to 4,440 in March, although sales were down 15.7% from March 2021. Homes are still turning over quickly after they list, with half going under contract in four days or less.
“Although competition has loosened, it’s not all rainbows and butterflies for buyers,” Abrams said. He prefers to describe what is going on as a “breath of fresh air.”
The added supply also hasn’t brought stratospheric home price gains back to Earth, something buyers struggling with affordability want to see happen.
The median closing price on a single-family home in March was $660,000, up 3.9% from February and 17.6% over the past year. For condos and townhomes, the median close price was $421,500, a 4.1% gain from February and a 19.9% gain over the past year.
A separate home price index from CoreLogic puts the annual pace of single-family home price appreciation in metro Denver in February at 20.4%, on par with a 20% gain measured nationally. CoreLogic is forecasting only a 3.9% rate of home price appreciation going forward over the next 12 months for metro Denver, which is below the 5% gain expected nationally.
