Real Estate Market Starting to Shift
Real Estate Market Update - May 2019
Four months into the year we are seeing a continued shift in the market, with a slight increase in inventory and a modest decrease in overall home sales in Boulder County. Denver started to experience this in the middle of last year and, as we expected it might, it’s spreading to Boulder County. Colorado Public Radio had a great segment last week that summarized the situation beautifully. Here’s a link to that 3 minute report:
For those who like to read the details, here’s a summary for you:
Detached Homes - Boulder County - Comparing end of April 2019 with April 2018
Median Sale Price Change - 0%
Days it takes to Sell - 50 Days - Up 35%
New Listings - Up 11%
Sold Listings - Down 5%
Inventory of Homes for Sale - Up 7%
The shift is more pronounced with Condos and Townhomes in the County:
Median Sale Price Change - Down 11%
Days it takes to Sell - 76 Days - Up 55%
New Listings - Up 19%
Sold Listings - Down 6.3%
Inventory of Condos/Townhomes for Sale - Up 23%
The market is still strong and houses are still selling. However, prices are cooling off, it takes more time to sell, and multiple offers are becoming less frequent, except at lower price points. As you can see in the figures above, it’s a basic supply and demand situation. There are more homes being listed for sale and, at the same time, the overall number of sales has decreased. Still, the number of homes for sale is relatively low in the historical sense, so the market hasn’t dramatically shifted in Boulder County yet. It’s just stabilizing more and it’s not as frantic as it has been.
For sellers, this means that they have to adapt and realize their home might not sell in the first few days or week on the market. If sellers aren’t getting an offer right away, it’s ok. They also have to be careful about over-reaching with prices, particularly with Condos and Townhomes. Buyers have a little more to choose from and they may have a little more time to think and act before writing an offer. However, as always, lower priced homes, nicely updated homes and properties in great locations will attract lots of interest.
This cooling trend in the market is a national phenomenon. The general thought of economists, and the public, is that we have an affordability issue with home prices. We’re certainly familiar with that here! At some point, prices reach a point where buyers back off and simply can’t afford any more. Perhaps we’ve reached that crossroads. We shall see how that pans out in the months ahead.
