November turned out to be a little bit of a surprise for the Denver Metro Area real estate market. As we watched the year struggle to find a solid positive footing, November’s numbers held steady and despite employment data not looking great and the Presidential Election taking much of the national focus. In fact, Denver’s real estate market seems to have fared better than other major cities. Let’s take a look at the numbers and see why last month was considerably a good month.
Denver Metro Area
As is typical this time of year, fewer sellers and buyers were in the market. With the Presidential election taking up much of the spotlight in the media, on our social feeds, and in the back of our minds, we would expect a larger decrease in activity in the real estate market. This year, however, we seemed to have outperformed ourselves compared to last year and years prior. Nearly 40% more came to market this year compared to last year, and 6% more homes closed despite the increase of home mortgage rates. Rates rose above 7% for many buyers in November, but pending contracts increased 22% since last year! Given the trajectory of the past few months, this is much better than expected for Denver.
The median sales price of a home in Denver came to $585,000. This was a 3% increase from last year, but shows the price of homes on the market have stalled just under $600k for the year. Home valuations, however, continue to rise with Colorado seeing an increase in investment purchases, rentals, and more transplants from other states. Detached single-family homes are selling at a median price of $639,000 across the metro area while condos and townhomes are averaging $410,000. One noticeable thing is the close-price-to-list-price-ratio, which has dropped down to 98% – meaning more homes are closing with deals or price reductions this month compared to last year.
Boulder County
Unlike the past 6 months, Boulder County’s real estate market has taken a turn for the better and is following suit with the rest of the Denver Metro Area! Where normally, housing prices, number of contracts, and days on market were indicating a suffering market, November saw Boulder County’s housing sales improve. The total of sold listings was up 13% while new contracts were up 34% last month. This has increased the median price of homes sold to $824,000, which is 4% higher than November of 2023. The one caveat here is that there were fewer homes listed in November, decreasing the month-to-month MLS listings. This is expected, though, during the winter months as fewer people move, sell or buy from October to March.
Overall, Boulder County’s real estate market’s statistics last month are a good indicator that the higher interest rates are becoming more comfortable to buyers. This could mean that with rates at 7%, it takes a little more planning to get into the purchase. Once those plans come to fruition, buyers are willing to build contracts and move toward sale.
Longmont
Longmont’s housing stats are generally pretty good, despite the slight decrease in median sales price. In November, homes sold at a median price of $550,000. This is consistent with the past few months and nearly the exact same value as last year. As we have continually stated, Longmont is a great place to live to maintain home equity even in turbulent economies. In general, home valuations throughout Longmont continue to rise at a steady pace. 26% more homes sold this year than last year, 23% of which had price reductions. That is probably due to the 60+ days on market most homes are experiencing locally, a consequence of affordable housing prices and interest rates at or above 7%.
How have you been feeling about the Real Estate Market? Are you looking to buy or sell, or just keeping your eye out for potential investment opportunities? It looks like the market is preparing for the next seasonal shift, and if Boulder is any indicator we may be ready to jump off our new base sales. Let’s see how these trends continue into December and 2025!
