Spring home-selling season starts with a bang in metro Denver

Single-family-home prices in metro Denver continued to perform gravity-defying feats of appreciation last month, as sellers as buyers alike raced to join the spring home-selling circus.

The average price of a home sold in metro Denver, which busted through $500,000 in February, swung up another 3.8% in March to $522,277. For the year, it is up 11.7% from what were already elevated levels.

The median price of a single-family home sold in March rose 1% from February to $440,875, and is up 8.5% year-over-year, according to a report Wednesday from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.

Both are new records, and both come despite rising interest rates that are adding to monthly payments on a home.

"The anticipated cooling effect of unaffordability has yet to materialize in the figures," Steve Danyliw, chairman of the DMAR Market Trends Committee, said in the report. "All in all, there are good numbers across the board, with the same story line of low inventory and prices moving higher."

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Denver, Colorado City Hall with Colorful Fall Leaves and the Rocky Mountains in the Background

Condo activity was more subdued, with a 1.5 percent increase in the average price to $351,044 and a 1.7% drop in the median to $295,000 last month.

The median price, or the point where half the homes sell for more and half sell for less, is considered a more representative measure of the market. The surge in the average price, however, reflects a rise in high-end properties being listed and sold.

The sale of single-family luxury homes priced over $1 million shot up 52% in March from February, and 381 homes in that price range have sold this year, including a $4.9 million nine-bedroom home in Denver and a $5.5 million three-bedroom condo in Boulder, according to the report.

The inventory of luxury homes at the end of March dropped below a five-month supply, which points to a seller's market now in even that segment, said Jill Schafer, a member of the committee and Denver Realtor, in the report.

For all homes, the number of new listings surged 36.4% to 6,355 in March from February, but is down nearly 500 listings from the 6,831 that hit the market in March 2017.

The inventory of homes and condos available for sale at the end of March was at 4,619 units, up 13.1% from February but down 6.1% from a year earlier. The number of sales in March increased by 26.74% to 4,213 from February but is down 12% from a year earlier.

Tribune Content Agency
Purchase Home prices Housing markets Real estate Colorado
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