It’s still a terrific buyer’s market in Denver, plenty of homes on the market to choose from. Prices are rising, but slowly. The median price for a single family home in May was $251,155. In June it had risen 4.72% to $263,000. Last year this time the median price was $261,750 for a 4.78% rise in 2007. The average for June was $304,055. A big factor in rising prices is the number of high-priced luxury homes selling for $1+ million. More sold in June than in May.

 

For condos the price rise was lower, 1.90% over May and a 1.23% drop from last year this time. The median price in June was $157,950, down from $159,900 in 2006. Luxury homes had little impact on the condo market.

 

Total inventory dropped from June 2006 by 5.2%. Experts speculate that sellers are keeping their homes off the market in order to lessen competition with foreclosures, thus creating a lower supply.

 

Average days on market for single family homes has dropped to 94 in June from a high of 125 in February. As has been true throughout Denver’s stagnant market, good homes in good locations in good conditions are being snapped up quickly, while overpriced homes and homes in need of routine maintenance are still languishing on the market. Days on market for condos is higher at 108 in June, showing the difficulty of selling condos in a buyer’s market.

 

Sellers were more realistic in June in terms of list price. Homes sold on average at 97% of list price at the time of sale and at 94% of original list price. Last month it was 97% of list price contrasted with 87% of original price. Maybe agents are more able now to convince sellers to list their homes closer to market value than they had been in past months.

 

Denver’s economy is predicted to be bright the last half of 2007 according to a mid-year report by the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business published July 5, 2007. Unemployment is low at 3.6% in May. The information and professional and business services sectors are as healthy as they’ve been in years. In December 2006 job growth was predicted to rise by 1.9% in 2007. While growth during the first half of the year is lower than expected spokesman Richard Wobbekind, a Leeds economist, expressed optimism for the last half of 2007, noting strength in the mining, health care, natural resources, and tourism sectors. A cloud over the economy continues to be the low number of new housing starts leading to a lessening number of jobs in the construction sector.