Walk Denver metro streets and you'll see more for sale signs than you did at this time last year.
At the end of October, there were 7,290 homes, including stand-alone houses, duplexes and condos, on the market. That's down, slightly from September, when there were 7,683.
But it's nearly 116% more compared to this time in 2021, according to the latest report from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. The DMAR's report looked at October market data from 11 metro-area counties.
And compared to October 2019, there are still fewer available homes when there were 8,557 listings.
Homes are staying on the market longer than they have been during most of the pandemic, giving buyers more options.
The median number of days a home is available is currently 17, up 240% from this time last year.
New listings hitting the market are actually down almost 28% from a year ago.
The median home price -- including houses and properties in multifamily buildings -- dropped from $580,000 in September to $566,000 in October.
While home prices are still up almost 6% from this time last year, they have been mostly trending downward since April.
The total volume of business the real estate industry has been doing has plummeted by more than $1.2 billion, from $3,395,138,685 to $2,192,326,606.
Some sellers are hesitant to put their homes on the market.
That's because of drops in price and rising interest rates, which topped 7% last month for the first time in 20 years.
More people are staying put and waiting to list their homes in the spring during "peak spring selling season," said realtor Libby Levinson-Katz, the chair of the DMAR Market Trends Committee.
But she thinks sellers should reconsider waiting.
"It is worth listing properties now, as buyers are actively in the market," Levinson-Katz noted. "While they are taking their time to find the right property, most buyers prefer to find a home sooner than later as interest rates are projected to climb through the next year."
