2019 was quite the year in the Denver Metro Real Estate Market – and we’re starting 2020 on the heels of a robust selling year with impressive inventory! Anyone house hunting in the Denver Metro area has experienced the Seller’s Market mentality pervading the housing prices. Even with rising prices houses have been selling quickly, and typically above asking prices across the metro. This year saw the introduction of Micro-Markets which helped buyers find affordable housing near desired neighborhoods. Longmont in particular saw homes staying on the market a little longer than previous years, with condominiums decreasing in price, and inventory higher and selling and the highest prices in history. This can only mean great things for the real estate market in Colorado this year!
The average sales price of a home in the Denver Metro area in 2019 was $486,695, the highest it’s ever been in the last 30 years. This is the eighth consecutive year of price gains! A total of 58,377 homes sold last year across the metro area – the second highest sales number in the past 30 years, only exceeded by 2017 wherein 59,209 homes sold. In this epic timespan homes have increased a whopping 417% (since 1990), with 2007-2009 being the only years when home values dropped year-over-year due to the mortgage market collapse. According to the Denver Metro Association of Realtors this is a heavy indicator that “homeownership is the primary driver of personal wealth.”
Colorado ended the year with fewer homes on the market than the previous year. Although properties sat on the market 8% longer as a yearly average, the month-to-month statistics indicate that homes are listed for an average of 41 days, which is typical of homes in the winter months. This past summer saw a heavy increase in homes coming onto the market with longer periods on the MLS which skewed the average to 8% longer. With fewer homes available now than during the summer, the duration has shortened again to 41 days on average. Longmont homes in particular have seen a much longer lifespan on the market, sitting at 64 days for single family dwellings and 101 days for condominiums. In a seller’s market, this is great news for buyers as this gives validation to price negotiations in a great community like Longmont.
This brings us to the birth of Micro-Markets. Boulder County is the perfect example of the power of Micro-Markets driving statistics. The city of Boulder itself unbalances County statistics heavily because it’s such a desirable place to live, inflating housing prices out of the affordable range and into luxury prices! Where the average sale price of homes in Boulder County sits at $694,998 Longmont has an average of $481,442. Even this doesn’t show the power of the Micro-Market, where homes on the west side of Longmont hold over $500k (the plains area just west of town has an average sale price of $755,340!) and many homes in eastern Longmont in the older neighborhoods are around $400k and below! That’s why looking at these macro scale numbers are disheartening when in fact affordability is tucked away in specific neighborhoods, regardless the average sale prices of a city or county. These Micro-Markets shift throughout the year, depending on inventory, and may surprise the average shopper who doesn’t mind looking outside their target parameters.
So what is 2020 bringing to the Real Estate table? With mortgage rates expected to sit around the 4% mark (starting the year at 3.93%) this may be the next best year to buy your dream home in the Denver Metro area. Prices have been rising, and over the last year we’ve seen a slight tapering off of the growth velocity, indicating the health of the Denver’s housing market. According to the DMAR, the Denver Metro areas “recovery [from the mortgage market collapse] has been one of the strongest in the nation,” and they don’t expect that to stop in 2020! So align your goals with home ownership and enter the market with confidence and the best realtors in the area: The Wise Team. When you know how the market is moving you can empower your bids on these great Colorado homes! Get in touch today to start your search for your dream home.
