At $469,000, the median price of a home in metro Denver in November was up 11.67 over the same time last year, with low inventory and high demand pushing prices up.
The Denver Metro Association of Realtors' latest monthly report comes at a time when buyers are being advised to consider paying more of the closing fees and are competing against fix-and-flip investors and people who are able to put down cash or willing to waive inspections. In short, it's a sellers market.
Some homeowners, though, are unwilling to sell, in part because they aren't sure where they would move. Denver-area mortgage expert Nicole Rueth said in comments accompanying the realtors' report that some sellers also are staying put because they can get lower interest rates on their mortgages. Those same low interest rates, which Rueth said are likely to continue as long as COVID continues to surge, are fueling demand.
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates, hoping to encourage borrowing and investing to stimulate growth, in response to the economic slowdown created by the coronavirus.
The realtors association reported just 3,415 homes were for sale at the end of November, an inventory that was down almost 30 percent from the end of October and about 50 percent below the end of November 2019.
Inventory was especially low in detached homes selling for less than $500,000, a price point considered particularly attractive for first-time buyers. Drew Morris, a member of the Denver Metro Association of Realtors DMAR Market Trends Committee member, said that with buyer demand so high, all the homes priced between $300,000 and $499,999 that were available at the end of November could sell in a week.
