Denver real estate market

The Denver real estate market is still battling relatively high rates of foreclosures, but continues to show otherwise strong indicators of economic health. According to a May 16, 2010 article in the Denver Post, “The new-home market in the Denver area improved in March, with net sales of 477, a 22 percent increase over the same month a year ago. The number of contracts cancelled fell from a year ago to 58, representing an 11 percent cancellation rate of gross sales, according to a recent report from Hanley Wood Market Intelligence. Inventory levels fell 35 percent, to 2,256 units.” The piece, written by Margaret Johnson, continued to state that “The average base price of units sold fell 4 percent from a year ago to $302,121, while the median base price of units sold fell 5 percent, to $270,990. The fluctuations in price are often affected by a shift in the price mix of units sold, as much as any price increase or decrease in the units themselves.”

A second report on Denver homes for sale reached a different conclusion on the movement of housing prices, according to a May 11, 2010 article in the Denver Business Journal. This piece noted that “Single-family home prices in metro Denver slipped in March from the previous month but rose 4.1 percent from 12 months earlier, according to a report Tuesday from Integrated Asser Services LLC.” The article by Mark Harden also said that “The monthly ‘IAS360 House Price Index’ report from IAS, a Denver-based default-mortgage services company, said the median single-family home price in the Denver-Aurora metro area declined 0.7 percent in March, following a 0.2 percent rise in February. But year over year, the index showed a 4.1 percent increase in the area’s median price between March 2009 and March 2010.”

Higher than average foreclosure rates might adversely affect Denver real estate if they continue to escalate. According to an April 29, 2010 article from In Denver Times, “Foreclosures are occurring at a faster-clip in the Denver-Aurora area than the national average, according to a national first-quarter report released today. The Denver-Aurora area ranked No. 49 out of 206 metropolitan statistical areas tracked by RealtyTrac, based in Irvine, Calif.”