The Current State of Denver Real Estate - April 17, 2024
In March of 2024, the Greater Metro Denver real estate market saw a slight increase in properties going under contract, year over year. However, closings were still down nearly 10% and that was from 2023. If you compare those numbers to 2022, we are down over 25% from the metro area’s peak numbers. With Easter coming early and snow still in the forecast, the number of new listings on the market stayed pretty steady, year over year for the month of March. April numbers appear to be increasing, despite interest rates creeping back up into the mid 7’s%. As you can see though, prices are continuing to increase. However, those are pretty much reflective of the published inflation numbers. If you base it on the real inflation rate of 11+%, housing prices are not keeping up, which is good for buyers.
April is typically one of the strongest home selling months of the year. We’ll check back in May to see if this month reflected typical activity. It appears that the number of listings are increasing and the good properties are still selling relatively quickly. Multiple offers for the right property in the right location, are still happening. Any single family home under $500,000 are also generating multiple offers.
The bad news is that interest rates have ticked up again and there is even less chance of the two or three interest rate cuts promised by the FED, with inflation staying stubbornly high. As a buyer, don’t let the interest rate increase put you on the sideline, if you still qualify for the loan. Typically, when rates fall, prices increase. So even though your rate may be higher, so too, will be the price of the home. You can always refinance into a lower rate once rates do come down, but you can’t reduce what you paid for the price of the home! During inflationary times, it’s more important than ever to be a homeowner in order to protect your wealth. Hard assets, such as real estate, is the best way to go in order to protect your cash from the “invisible tax” known as inflation. If your money is invested in real estate, that will at least increase, even as the value of your cash goes down.
Feel free to reach out to any of us on The Tucker Team, for any questions or help if you, or anyone you know, is in the market to buy or sell. We can help.