It’s that time of the month to reflect back on Denver’s residential real estate sales.  Denver real estate is up and it’s down, it’s selling and stalling.  It depends on who you ask, what their circumstances are and what price range they’re in.
We’ve had several instances of multiple offers in my office this past month.  This seems to be happening when the price is set correctly or even a little aggressively, when the house shows perfectly and when the price is between $250,000 and $500,000. Remember sellers – You’re not only in a pricing war, you’re in a beauty contest.
Higher end and luxury properties are still stalled.  High end sales are closing where a luxury property is unique and special with little competition.  Those homes will sell when the right buyer walks through the door and are a little more insulated from market circumstances.  Most luxury homes are competing with a tremendous number of other listings, and with an excess of 2 years inventory over $1 million it will take awhile to shake that out.
We typically see a seasonal adjustment this time of year as properties are pulled off the market for the holidays.  This is reflected in the 5.88% reduction in homes on the market since October.  With nearly a 20% reduction since the same time last year, we begin to notice a pattern that’s not seasonal.  Fewer homes on the market will ultimately result in fewer homes for buyers to choose from, higher demand and a shift in the balance of the market.
Remember, we’ve had a Sellers’ market in Denver since early 2002.  While we never saw a big bursting bubble, we did have a deflation and we bumped along the bottom for years.  Our average days a property is on the market continues to decline, another sign that homes are selling faster than in past months.
This New York Times article about the timing of buying a home suggests that we’ll never know when the bottom hit until after the fact.  During the final months of ’08 and the beginning of ’09 we’re keeping our seat belts fastened and hoping that Denver can keep chugging along.
Happy Holidays to all!