In August, the median price of a single-family house in Metro Denver was $650,000; for a condo or other multi-family properties, it was $419,950.
That's according to the Denver Metro Association of Realtors monthly Market Trends Report on real estate in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, Gilpin, Jefferson and Park counties.
The median house price dropped $5,000 since last year's median price, signaling the rapid fluctuations in the market have slowed. But homes are still more expensive than they were a few years back.
Since 2019, single-family house prices have grown nearly 43%.
At the end of the month, there were 6,858 homes listed -- a nearly 27% drop since 2019.
Some homes are sitting on the Metro Denver real estate market for 70 days or more, noted Libby Levinson-Katz, the chair of the Denver Metro Association of Realtors Market Trends Committee.
On average, homes are on the market for 30 days in Metro Denver.
The sellers' market of the past few years -- when some buyers were outbidding each other for homes they had never even seen and in turn drove prices unexpectedly high -- is over. People looking for homes now have more negotiating power than during that recent frenzy.
In this market, people actually view the homes they're buying, and naturally, they sell faster when they are priced reasonably, staged well, and marketed effectively, according to the report.
Yet, for realtors and sellers, figuring out how to price a home in this market is tricky.
"If a home is priced correctly, or even priced under market, it may still receive multiple offers," Levinson-Katz noted in the report. "However, if the price is slightly high then days on market climb until you find the right buyer, or the right price."
Recently high interest rates have put off many buyers from entering the market, but Levinson-Katz writes that there are tools to keep the dream of owning a home alive: Federal Housing Administration loans, down payment assistance programs for first-time home buyers and assumable loans, in which the buyer takes over the seller's mortgage.
"For serious buyers who have their financing buttoned up, there are a number of opportunities available," she wrote.
