Denver Metro Real Estate Review
February 2021
In stark contrast to last year, 2021 is starting off very slowly in the real estate market. Coming off the heels of a record breaking year, it looks to be a record breaking year of a different sort. Listings are down, sales volume is down, and average prices continue to rise very quickly. This could be just a continuation of the trends coming off the election cycle, continued economic fears due to COVID, or speculation based on the new social influences pulling our attention away from the real estate market. We’re still in the typical real estate slump that we see year-to-year, but these numbers are much lower than we’ve seen in the past few years. The only brighty, shiny, happy number coming off our reports is the time spent on the market – which is at a historical low for this time of year.
At the end of January the Denver Metro area had a total of 2,316 homes listed. That’s right, only 2,316 properties were available for sale – and these homes are spending an average of only 27 days on the market on average. Already you can tell this strongly indicates that Denver is still a seller’s market, with average home prices rising faster than the national average. Year-over-year our home averages are rising at 15.71%, with single-family, detached homes rising at almost 19%! Despite the fast rising prices and slim selection people are still highly interested in this market with the low interest rates on mortgages.
We can only speculate why there are fewer sellers in the market these days. With 2020’s focus of new constructions in apartments and condominiums we saw a smaller amount of new home constructions in the metropolitan area. Another reason may be because property owners are seeing the value rise and want to hold on to their assets. Others may be worried about the larger economy and what it would mean to sell their home and move, and the ability to extract their equity in the process, so they hold onto their home. If we consider the eviction moratorium as well we may be seeing a large decline in available properties because those who expected to sell their homes in the last year were unable to remove their current tenants. With so many factors we can start to understand why the lower numbers are lingering for so long due to COVID-19, the election and surrounding politics, economic factors and indicators, and trust in the real estate market.
As trends go, Boulder is following suit with the Denver Metro Area. Though Boulder housing prices are not rising at quite as fast a rate as the rest of the Front Range, they have a dramatically higher average price: about $805,000. This is a 7.5% increase over last year by this time. Boulder is still a very popular place to move, even with prices so high. At the end of January there were only 97 single family homes available in the entire county! Talk about historical low listings! The one number that stands out starkly from the Metro Area is the duration of homes remaining on the market: 41 days! This is down from last year, when the Luxury Market was really suffering, but not nearly as much as significantly. We can understand why this duration exists because the price of homes definitely slows the selling process.
Denver remains a popular destination for movers, transplants, and vacationers which is making the Denver Real Estate Market a seller’s delight and a buyer’s conquest. Regardless of your needs and intentions in real estate, if you’re looking for assistance navigating the processes of homeownership get in touch with the best real estate agents in Northern Colorado: The Wise Team. We have a passion for creating homes and helping individuals continue their path through life!
