Housing report: Tough to find homes for sale in the Denver metro area right now
A new report by the Denver Metro Association of Realtors is showing that not only is it getting more expensive to buy a home, but there aren't enough to go around.
"To have a balanced market in the Denver metro area we would need about 26,000 homes. As of March 13, we only have a little over 3,000 homes. So, there are much more buyers in the market then homes to sell them, unfortunately," said Lakisha Banks, a realtor with West and Main Homes.
The median price for a home in Denver went up from $578,000 in January to $605,250 in February, according to the market trends report. Also, the average sales price for a home in Denver is $800,280.
Adding to the obstacles of purchasing a home in Denver is the lack of inventory, which leads some purchasers looking in other cities like Aurora to find a home.
"It's hard because Denver is beautiful and it's nice to be by the culture and downtown. Just closer to things," said Letishia Payne. "But in the end, you get more for your money when you look out and open up your mind to other places to be."
The market report found that the average sales price for a home in Aurora in February was $543,975 and the median price for a home was $517,500.
"Those (Denver) homes were much smaller and more expensive and so it would be tough to be paying that. Paying for something that wasn't perfect," said Rickey Payne.
The report also points out that buyers are watching interest rates closely and waiting for more inventory to hit the market. With higher rates, more homeowners in Denver are less willing to sell because of the rate on a new home.
"We had a lot of homebuyers who purchased homes when interest rates were historically low, three four years ago, before COVID when they were in the two's, threes, and fours. And in the natural progression of real estate those folks should be looking to step up in their home, but they're not because interest rates are more now," said Dr. Chad Nash, Broker, and Owner of Nash & Company Real Estate.
One positive is the number of new listings of single-family and condominiums in Denver grew from 750 in January to 852 in February. Homes are also taking longer to sale as the average home is on the market for 43 days. This time last year, a home was on the market for only 13 days.
