In hot housing market, buyers facing stiff competition
DENVER -- While the stock market is in turmoil, the housing market is booming.
The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that sales of new homes last month were 25 percent higher than July of last year.
Call Josh Franco a frustrated house hunter. He's spent three months looking -- and losing out to faster-moving buyers. A $660,000, five-bedroom home in a Denver suburb just hit the market. So will Franco act fast this time?
"Today would be a day I would put in an offer on this house, 100 percent," Franco said.
And a hot housing market means higher prices.
Sizzling Denver topped the U.S. with a 10.2 percent year-over-year price increase, followed by San Francisco at 9.5 percent and Dallas at 8.2 percent.
Sellers are getting up to 30 bids and now other enticements, according to Kelly Moye, spokesperson for the Colorado Association of Realtors.
"They'll do anything, from offer mountain bikes to the sellers, or maybe a trip for two ... anywhere -- to Cancun, Mexico, the mountains. Maybe they own a timeshare and they'll give them two weeks there," Moye told CBS News.
Another sign of the recovery: Only 22 percent of buyers nationwide are paying all cash, down from a high of 40 percent in 2013. That means fewer investors looking for a quick buck and more regular home buyers.
The last real estate boom turned into a bust. Not this time, according to Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac.
"We've actually been selling homes to buyers who can afford those homes, which is a really good sign that this recovery is not just some kind of artificial inflating of housing, but it's actually built on a solid foundation," Blomquist said.
Franco sat down and wrote an offer on that house. Now comes the hard part -- waiting to find out if he or someone else got it.