DENVER — The just-released statewide real estate report shows a very different home sales picture in Colorado from just one year ago. Fewer for sale signs are popping up in what is the typically the busier spring-summer season.
What stands out in the latest Colorado Association of Realtors report is the lower demand for homes.
“If you're driving around your neighborhood going, gosh, there sure are a lot less houses for sale than maybe there was in previous months or previous years, you’re definitely now wrong,” said Matt LePerino, spokesperson for the Colorado Association of Realtors.
In May 2023, about a third fewer homes sold compared to May 2022.
“And what’s interesting with that is only about 20% fewer properties came on the market,” said LePerino. “that means that there's just not as many coming on the market and they're not being absorbed all that quickly.”
Looking at new listings in Colorado for the month of May there were 8,678 single family homes on the market compared to May 2022 when there were 11,198 new single family home listings.
That’s a 22.5% decrease from one year ago.
LePrino points out the statistics are relative when trying to compare the current market to the past couple of years, but a glance at May 2019 before the pandemic and unprecedented hot market, there were 12,962 new single-family home listings.
Another potential sign of slowing demand in the market is a drop in the number of Denver homes sold. In May, there were just 542 single-family homes sold which is a 19% drop from the 767 homes sold in May 2022.
Across the state, In May of this year there were 6,565 single family homes sold in Colorado which is 24% down from the 8,651 homes sold in May 2022.
Homes are also staying on the market much longer in Colorado. In May, single-family homes were on the market for an average of 40 days which is an 82% increase from the average of 22 days on the market in May 2022.
Denver County also saw homes staying on the market longer than this time last year. Single-family homes were on the market an average of 17 days compared to the 7 days in May 2022 in Denver County. That is a 143% increase in the time on market until sold.
The decreases also show up in the median sales price for a single-family home. Across the state, the median price in May 2023 was $575,000 which is down 3% from $595,150 in May 2022. In Denver County, the median sales price on a single-family home was $713,750 which is also down from $730,000 in May 2022.
How is the current market trend impacting buying and selling real estate in Colorado? LePrino said despite the recent increase in interest rates, historically-speaking, rates are relatively-speaking still low and there are still incentives for buyers and sellers to jump into the market.
"If you have to be a seller, remember, you have to be a buyer also, right? And so for buyers right now, it may not be the most desirable time to sell, but it's an excellent time to buy because those prices really have altered their course," said LePrino. "I would say don't be scared of the market where it might be slightly undesirable on one side ever so slightly, you're going to reap those benefits being on the buyer side. So the two really do balance each other out right now, especially in the metro area."
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And if you remember the insanity of the recent hot real estate market in Colorado, there is some peace of mind to be found looking for a home in this changing market.
"If you don't have to sell and you're a buyer right now, you get to enjoy a much more peaceful and enjoyable process right now," said LePrino. "
