We are constantly looking at numbers to understand trends and see the direction of where things are moving. While we have noticed that each zip code and in some cases even neighborhoods within a zip code may be "behaving" differently than similar homes in other areas, there has definitely been a cooling in the market. The past 3 years had seen high prices, low interest rates, multiple offers on home, short selling periods... and it's hard for everyone to adjust to a market where buyers are more discerning and sellers are willing to wait for interest rates to come down before selling unless they absolutely have to.
Here are some key factors we observed in September and we're are seeing the week-to-week trend look very similar through October:
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Low Inventory: In September, Metro Denver had 28% fewer homes for sale than the pre-pandemic average, with only 4,643 available.
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Decreased Demand: Home demand dipped in September, with 14.2% fewer pending transactions and 14.8% fewer closed transactions compared to August. Year-over-year, pending and closed sales both dropped significantly.
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Market Cooling: The market is cooling off as we enter the fourth quarter, with inventory levels up by 27.5%, negotiating opportunities continue to get stronger for buyers.
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Price Changes: Average sold prices decreased by 2.6% to $764,126, while the median price fell by 1.2% to $637,500. However, both prices were higher than in September 2022.
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Multiple Offers: Multiple offers are less competitive than in previous years, with homes selling for an average of 2.6% over the asking price.
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Days on Market: Homes spent an average of 29 days on the market, with half selling within 14 days. This aligns with seasonal trends.
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Quick Sales: Although slightly down from August, 37.7% of homes went under contract within 7 days, often fetching 100.8% of their original list price.
We are often asked when the right time to buy/sell is and is it now? Ultimately, the answer is "if it's right for you". We are having many tough conversations because buyers and sellers alike, much like many agents, are still looking for those pandemic deals, with absurdly low interest rates and houses flying off the market. If we were to exclude the "pandemic numbers" from the market, we would see that from 2019 to today, we are right where we should be value-wise but the buyer and seller pool are significantly smaller. But make no mistake, the prices we saw even 6 months ago are not the same as those we are seeing today. There is a cooling trend across the board, in all areas and at all prices.
Please call us or email us, we would love to discuss this with you.
