Surge in Denver metro home listings breaks spring record

Home listings across the greater Denver market surged by nearly a third this spring for a record gain, while prices stayed relatively flat.

The number of single-family homes or condominiums for sale rose 31 percent in May to 9,159, from 6,990 at the end of April, a record rise for the region, according to the Denver Post, citing a report from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.

Compared to the 5,228 homes on the market a year ago, available homes for sale were up 75.2 percent. The prior record gain of 26.8 percent was set in 2019.

Between April and May, the number of listings has historically risen an average of 7.5 percent.

While the May surge in listings broke the record, the number of listings would need to triple to meet the high mark reached in 2006, according to the Post. It would also require another 63 percent gain to match the month’s historical average in records going back to 1985.

Analysts didn’t foresee the coming surge in listings in the metro Mile High City..

Market forecasts had predicted home inventory to stay flat as long as mortgage rates didn’t drop much, Libby Levinson-Katz, chair of the DMAR Market Trends Committee, said in remarks accompanying the report.

Market analysts had thought that sellers sitting on 30-year mortgages below 4 percent had no financial incentive to list their properties and pay more to borrow for a new abode — that only homeowners who needed to move would give up a once-in-a-lifetime rate. 

“That doesn’t seem to be the case, as sellers have been not only stepping but jumping off the fence to enter the market for a variety of reasons,” Levinson-Katz said.

The typical price of a traded single-family home in greater Denver fell 0.26 percent from April to $660,000 last month, up 0.53 percent from a year ago.

At the same time, the median price for condos and townhomes dropped 2.8 percent to $407,250, down 4.2 percent from last year. Owners have been slammed by rising HOA fees, more association assessments and higher property taxes. 

“Homeowners in the condo market are paying more to hold onto their properties. As a result, by and large, they are not appreciating as well as they once did due to buyer hesitancy to take on the financial burden,” Levinson-Katz said.

— Dana Bartholomew

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