Metro Denver’s housing market tug of war rolls on

The peak spring home-selling season is in full swing in metro Denver, but it is proving to be a much tamer affair this year than last.

Sellers listed more homes in metro Denver and buyers purchased fewer of them last month compared with April 2018, according to a monthly update from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.

The inventory of properties available for sale at the end of April was up to 7,012, nearly 36 percent higher than a year ago and 11.4 percent higher ahead of March.

“That is significant, yet we are in a seller’s market in every single price range,” Jill Schafer, chairwoman of the DMAR Market Trends Committee, said in comments accompanying the report.

At the current pace of sales, there is only about six weeks inventory of homes and condos listed for buyers in metro Denver, she said.

A balanced market is achieved at around five to six months of inventory.

Homes are taking longer to sell, spending a median 12 days on the market last month compared with six days a year ago.

But even 12 days remains a fast market. The average days on the market for singlefamily homes is at four weeks, up from 22 days a year ago.

Buyers closed on 4,675 homes and condos in April, down 7.2 percent from a year earlier but up 4.2 percent from March. Some of April’s activity looks like it will spill into May, given a sharp 18.8 percent rise in properties put under contract during the month.

The median price of a single-family home sold in April in metro Denver came in at $460,000, which is up 0.5 percent from April 2018 and 2.2 percent from March. The median price of a condo sold came in at $305,000, up 2.2 percent over the year and 1.7 percent from March.

The luxury end of the market, which covers properties priced above $1 million, showed the biggest percentage increase in sales in April, while the biggest declines were in single-family homes priced under $299,999.