April 2023 Market Update

The Denver metro market continues to experience limited inventory as the spring selling season picks up. Average days on the market was down 21.62% to 29 days, and the average home price was up to 2.56% to $682,061. These positive changes reflect buyer confidence, as mortgage rates have dropped below 6% for the first time in the last 90 days.

Polarized Buyers

While these are encouraging trends, we are experiencing a different buying environment than we felt in the past few years. Active listings are up 44.19% from last year and 2.30% over last month, at 4,620 listings, but closed homes are down 7.91% to 3,701. We continue to experience polarized buyers willing to pay top dollar for a perfect property, but hesitate over even minor cosmetic imperfections. Therefore, pricing your home correctly is crucial. The close-to-list price ratio ticked back over 100% in April to 100.21%. While this still pales in comparison to April of 2022, when it averaged 107.15%, it is an indicator that when sellers price a home correctly, buyers respond with enthusiasm.

Trusting Your Agent

As real estate agents, we are equipped with various tools to help both buyers and sellers navigate this market, and with a changing market, we are using all our best tricks. Although Denver’s market remains somewhat insulated due to limited inventory, it’s crucial for sellers to prepare their homes effectively, while buyers should present clean offers to secure a deal.

Looking ahead, there are a few things to keep in mind. Historically, we see the summer real estate season continue through Labor Day, but last year, rising interest rates slowed down the market starting in June. We won’t see this reflected in the year-over-year data until early July. While home prices have decreased by 5.60% from last year, financing a home has become significantly more expensive.  Persisting home values are partly due to consumers, confident they can refinance at a lower rate soon. If rates do come down again, we hope to also see increased inventory. How quickly potential buyers gobble up that inventory is difficult to say.