Denver Metro Area Real Estate Review
March 2023
Well, it’s happening. The real estate market is showing true signs of the effects of interest rate increases from the past year. We have noticed, over the past few months, that a change was imminent. There now seems enough evidence to have a predictable outlook for the full 2023 market trends. Prices, in general, are still increasing year-over-year in the Denver Metro Area, unlike some markets in California, Illinois, Florida and New York. This growth, however, is stunted and moving very much into a buyer’s market. Let’s take a look at what that means.
Denver Metro Area Real Estate Market
As the Denver Metro Area real estate market slows down, hesitancy is influencing potential sellers. For the first time this year, new listings have dropped (down 15.5% from last year) while active listings continue to rise (up 44.6% from last year). The most telling statistics here are the number of homes sold, down 15.3% from last year. This tells us that buyers are reluctant to jump into a new home quickly. The normal sales trend is taking off this year, with sales picking up in March and into April, but we are not seeing the volume of the past few years. High interest rates and record high home valuations make for a slower selling season, which explains the 45 day average for homes on the market. But when they do sell, homes are selling at around $600,000 throughout the metro area. This is down from last year by about 5.5%. All these indicators are proving out that sellers have lost the market advantage and buyers are being handed a lot of negotiating power. The caveat here is that buyers in the market are fewer than the past couple of years, with higher interest rates deterring many from going this route.
Boulder County
Boulder County is following all the same trends as the rest of the Denver metro area real estate market. There is 77.5% more inventory this year than last year, but new listings are down from last year (down 12.9%). The one metric that stands out, when compared to the rest of the metro area, is the continued growth of the median sales price. Boulder County is selling at a median price of $900,000. This is up 2.8% from last year! Homes in Boulder, however, are staying on the market an average of 48 days, which historically is not a long time for Boulder; it is 78% longer than last year. It would appear Boulder is still a very desirable market, despite high interest rates and high property values.
Longmont
If you’re expecting Longmont to be any different than the rest of the Denver Metro area real estate market, you’ll be disappointed. The trends have infiltrated the sales market, even with the great property values compared to the city of Boulder. It appears that Longmont is skewing the greater Boulder County real estate market statistics. The median sales price of a home in Longmont is around $537,000 (down 7.1% from last year). The number of homes sold is down 23.7%, which is allowing inventory to continue to rise around town. Homes are moving considerably faster in Longmont than the rest of the Denver Metro area, selling within 31 days on average.
What does this all mean for 2023? Well, it means the market is not as volatile as people would expect given the high interest rates, volume of people moving to Colorado, and the high property values. This does mean, however, securing a loan for your dream property in Colorado may be a little difficult. Don’t worry, though! There is room to negotiate with the seller. We’re hearing that contracts are seeing non-traditional deals included as buyers and sellers work together in their transaction. So keep an open mind as you strive for your goals in this real estate market.
