This spring’s home buying season is off to a slow start with “atypical, murky and muddy” market conditions due to higher interest rates and new property tax assessments leaving buyers and sellers “dazed and confused”, according to the April Market Trends Housing Report from the Colorado Association of Realtors.
Boulder/Broomfield-area realtor Kelly Moye says continued low inventory frustrates potential buyers.
“Some listings are selling in a weekend with bidding wars, and others idle for a few months before a sale. It’s a bit hard to understand.”
Number of available homes drops
The Association’s monthly analysis shows the number of new single-family home listings dropped from 4,575 in March to 4,436 in April across the seven-county Denver metro area, defined as Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties.
“Where is the beginning of the selling season?” asks Jefferson County-area REALTOR® Barb Ecker. “The selling season, which typically starts in mid-March or, in the case of the past few years, late February, is just trickling in as we work into May.”
The number of houses sold also dropped from 3,534 in March to 3,342 in April.
“Once again, interest rates have taken another hike, which might explain why in every zip code in Arapahoe and Adams County, new listings and overall inventory are down. It only makes sense that the number of sold properties would be down,” says Aurora-area realtor Sunny Banka.
Sellers who braved the market got an average of 100% of their list price in April, up from 95.5% percent in March. Homes sold faster, too, with the average days on the market dropping to 35 in April from 45 days in March.
The median sales price for single-family homes increased to $614,170 in April from $599,950 in March.
Interest rate and affordability concerns
“Affordability remains at the top of everyone’s mind this year, as monthly housing costs have increased due to rising rates, major tax reassessments, and real discretionary income reduced by general inflation,” says Cooper Thayer, a Douglas County-area realtor.
Denver-area realtor Matthew Leprino says the housing market’s beginning to show some balance, which should benefit buyers and sellers.
“Interest rate changes have been all the buzz this year, but with buyers paying less this year than last and having the inventory to pay far closer to the asking price (100.8% this year vs. 108.5% on average last year), the rates have almost certainly been absorbed and are now part of an average buyer’s expectations,” he says.
The news and editorial staffs of The Denver Post had no role in this post’s preparation.
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