Denver real estate sales seemed to take a hiatus in January.
While January is typically a slow month for closings, this was softer than usual.  Buyers and Sellers were truly jarred by the economic cliff we fell off.  As the plummet felt faster and faster in November and December, people hunkered down and focused on family and the holidays.
Remember, closings in one month are a result of contracts written the previous two months.
January 2009 was slow because at the end of 2008 people were waiting.  Waiting for the new administration, waiting to see what their 401k looked like, waiting for rates to come down, waiting for the sun to shine.
We still have a much lower inventory of homes to choose from and judging from how many offers we’re seeing this month, things will pick up a bit from here.  This is typically the best selling season in Denver (February – May) and I think that with the low rates and the lessening inventory we’ll see the under contract and closing numbers pop next month or the month after.
Here’s the thing, though… In order to get a truly balanced market, we need to begin to sell properties in all price ranges.  The lower and middle range homes are still what’s selling – as I’ve said in past months.  But, in January we only had 23 homes sell priced over $1,000,000.  The luxury and high end market must clear out inventory to get our entire real estate market back on the fast track.
The past two weeks I’ve had a flurry of activity on my luxury property listings, and one is under contract, with two more possibly so.  The buyers I’ve spoken with about this say they feel like the prices have come down enough to be a good deal. We’ll see what this portends.  I’ll keep you posted!