Denver’s red-hot housing market may be experiencing an autumn slowdown as the market lost its “loose grip” on housing inventory last month, according to some local realtors.
The Denver Metro Association of Realtors’ (DMAR) latest monthly market report showed properties are staying on the multiple listing system (MLS) for an average of two days longer, increasing from nine to 11 days. At the same time, the number of active listings at the end of August was 11.6% below the total from July.
One area of positivity for buyers is that the average home close price dipped just over 1% last month. However, Denver’s average home close price is still up 14.25% year-over-year and is closing for an average of $614,577.
For Andrew Abrams, chair of the DMAR Market Trends Committee, the data shows that buyers need to be flexible with their home buying strategy, as the market could demand a near immediate shift.
“There was a lot of talk among realtors about now being a good time for buyers who had previously gotten burnt out from the process to re-enter the market. While still true today, competition is still tighter now than it was at this time last month,” he said in a statement.
August is commonly a time when the housing market begins to cool as parents begin nestling in for the school year and vacation travel wanes. However, Denver ended August with record-low inventory at just 3,582 active listings, according to DMAR’s report.
For comparison, there were 4,056 active listings at the end of July, and more than 5,000 active listings in August 2020. Denver’s August 2021 inventory total is also one-third of the total inventory Denver had in August 2019, the data shows.
However, the inventory squeeze is not impacting all of Denver’s sub-markets the same. Homes priced below $500,000 have seen the most significant drop in availability. Homes priced between $200,000 and $299,999 have seen a 64% reduction in inventory, the steepest drop among all comparable price ranges.
Buyers looking to spend more than $500,000, on the other hand, have a little more inventory to choose from. Homes priced between $500,000 and $749,999 have seen a 38.7% increase in inventory, while homes between $750,000 and $999,999 are up 73.5%, and homes values at more than $1 million are up more than 86%, according to DMAR.
Going forward, Abrams expect buyers to be more patient as they wait to buy the right house “at the right price.”
“With both inventory and new listings decreasing, the short-lived ‘loose grip’ on inventory is starting to tighten once more,” the report said.
This article was originally posted on Denver lost ‘loose grip’ on inventory in August, realtors group says