What’s going on in Colorado real estate?  We’ve got the April 2023 market updates and trends, and our roundtable of experts is back to discuss what they mean. Envision Advisors agents Jenny Bayless, Preston Newberry, and Newt Wyler joined me to talk about all the trends we’re seeing along the front range, from Pueblo to Northern Colorado.  

In all markets, median sales prices are down year over year, and we’re keeping our eyes on this stat to see how the current busy season impacts it over the next few months.  Now is a good time to be a seller—a well-priced property has a good shot at going over list price.  However, buyers also have room to ask for concessions since there are plenty of properties that have been sitting on the market for a while. 

In This Episode We Covered

• Great deals we can’t believe are on the market: opportunities for room by room rentals in Greeley, an updated duplex in Aurora with the potential for a 6% cap rate, and a fourplex in Pueblo listed for just $400K!
• I asked the panel whether or not I should sell one of my investment properties.  It’s a house with a backyard ADU that’s currently vacant.  You might be surprised by their answers!
• Property tax assessments just came out and many owners are seeing their home values jump.  If yours seems off, most counties have a June deadline for objections.
• Denver rental licenses are due by January 1^st of next year.  If you own a rental property in Denver, make sure you get the process started now—you don’t want to get caught up in the rush and get stuck waiting for an approval.  Worried about navigating the process?  Check out our recent webinar on Your Ultimate Guide to Passing the Inspection.
• Sign up for our weekly deals email: every week we send out an email with properties for sale along the Front Range that would make great investments.

Denver Market Stats and Observations for April 2023

Active Listings

• Up 44% from April ‘22
  • Homes +33%
  • Condos +80%
• Up slightly from March ‘23
• At 4,600, it’s still a lot less than historically we would anticipate.
  • The average number of listings at this time of year:  14,300.

Pending

• Down 18% from this time last year
  • This is consistent with the past few months in Denver.
  • It’s also consistent with the national trends.
  • Until we see a meaningful uptick in buyers applying for a mortgage (which has been mired at ten-year lows), it’s not really possible for this to improve.
• Up 11% from last month
  • That’s about in line with what we’d expect from seasonality.
  • The inventory didn’t grow much from last month, but the UC count grew faster. 
  • That suggests that homes are selling fast (and we did see that DOM declined a lot from last month)
• If we don’t see an uptick in the new inventory getting brought to the market, we might see more competition of what few listings we do have available.

Closed Count

• Off 30% from April ‘22
  • Homes and Condos – similar performance
• Off 8% from March ‘23
  • This is really odd; historical seasonal patterns would lead us to expect a decent uptick.
• Looking ahead, the Fed likely had their last rate increase (5/03), and we saw the ten-year treasury drop a little as a result.
  • The home mortgage rates are heavily influenced by the ten year.
  • A trend to lower rates will help.
  • However, the new property taxes are a LOT higher for most homes, which will hurt the ability of buyers to qualify.
  • The lawmakers are discussing reducing the increase of the property taxes – we will see if they can agree, and how fast it will take for any relief to be issued.

Average Price

• Off 6% from April ‘22
  • This decline is generally consistent with what we have seen in the last few months.
  • As we have been discussing, we don’t anticipate a repeat of the 2008/09 declines.
  • Homes and condos had similar declines.
  • We’re seeing declines in almost all western US cities; Denver’s declines have been less than most (e.g., Seattle, SFO, LA)
• Overall, $682,000 on average
  • Home: $772,000
  • Condo: $472,000
• Up 3% from March ‘23
  • This is relatively normal for seasonality.

Days on Market

• Up to 29 days in ’23 from 9 in April ‘22
• Down from 37 days last month (normal trend)

Discounts

• Overall, the average property sold for 0.4% above the asking price.
  • Last month the average was a 0.2% discount.
  • A year ago it was a 6.4% premium.

Colorado Springs Market Stats and Observations for April 2023

New Listings

• Homes
  • Up 6% from last month
  • Down 33% from last year
• Condos
  • Up 3% from last month
  • Down 16% from last year

Sales Count

• Homes
  • Up 1% from last month
  • Down 27% from last year
• Condos
  • Down 14% from last month
  • Down 38% from last year

Sales Price

• Homes
  • Up 2% from last month
  • Down 5% from last year
• Condos
  • Up 2% from last month
  • Down 6% from last year

Inventory

• Homes
  • Up 7% from last month
  • Up 64% from last year
• Condos
  • Up 2% from last month
  • Up 205% from last year

Note: The above Executive Summary is from Lon Welsh of Your Castle Real Estate.

Denver Housing Trends for April 2023

Colorado Springs Housing Trends for April 2023

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