2019 Denver real estate market review

2019 Denver real estate market – a historical perspective. The average sold price in 2019 was $486,695, including condos and single family homes, which was an increase of 2.85% from 2018. 2019 Denver real estate market set a new historical high and marked the eighth consecutive year of price gains. To put things in perspective, over the last 30 years, the average price has increased a staggering 417% and growth has been consistent since 1990 except during the mortgage market collapse from 2007-2009.

Inventory continued to be scarce in 2019 and it looks like that trend will continue into the first half of 2020. Furthermore, if you haven’t noticed, Denver’s selling seasons are both starting sooner and slowing sooner, with sales picking up as early as late January and getting exhausted by July. 2019 Denver real estate market ended with 5,037 active listings, down 9.68% from 2018; representing 41% of metro Denver’s 30 year annual average of 12,262 active listings.

For historical perspective, active listings reached their highest point in July 2006 with 31,989 listings. The record low month was in December 2017 with 3,854 listings. A year later, that number increased 44.7% to 5,577. This growth in inventory was due in part to sluggish sales and a higher number of new listings entering the market. According to the numbers, this trend started to reverse itself towards the midpoint of 2019 with November representing the first month in the previous 13 that showed a decrease in listing compared to the previous year. Additionally, we finished 2019 Denver real estate down 9.7% from 2018 in active listings.  Today’s 1.2 months of inventory stands in significant contrast from 2006 as we continue to remain a seller’s market.

2019 Denver real estate market represented the second highest year for closings in Denver Metro history, with 58,404 closed transactions. This represents an increase of 3.43% from 2018 and was the fifth year in a row exceeding 56,000 transactions. For comparison, in 1990 we closed only 25,619 homes. Not only was 2017 our historical high with 59,207 closings, but nationally it was also a record year.

Here is an interesting statistic; 40% of all homes dropped their list price before going under contract. Properties that reduced their price spent an average of 59 days on the market compared to 14 days for those with no price reductions. That is why it’s so important to price and stage your home right from the start.

First-time homebuyers (FTHB) are making a bigger splash. They represented 33% of sales in November. As Generation Z starts to age into credit qualification (18 years old), FTHB’s will be at historical highs with an expected 8.3 million to 9.2 million more qualified buyers purchasing homes between 2020 and 2022.

Interesting Read

Denver has the 10th highest share of million dollar homes of any U.S. metropolitan area, according to a new list by LendingTree.

In the last 20 years, Colorado’s population has increased by a little more than 1.5 million people. As of 2019, the state had 5.7 million residents. On average, the state is growing anywhere from 70,000 to 80,000 people each year. Most newcomers moved to the Front Range (about 91%) and nearly 8% decided to call the Western Slope, home.