Report shows April housing market leaving 'a lot to be desired'

The Denver housing market has traditionally seen a good month in April, but it has been stagnant this year.

According to the Denver Metro Association of Realtors' latest monthly report, the average home price in Denver last month was $682.061, and the median price of a closed house was $580,000. The average and median prices of homes increased from month to month, as the trend in prices has been upwards since February. Prices are still lower than last April's average of $722.484 and median of $617,000.

At the end of April there were 4,620 active listings, an increase of 2.3% from March. This is lower than the historical average inventory increase of 10.41% between March and April. It also lower than the 14,296 average active listings seen historically in April (from 1995 to 2022). This April's inventory represents a 44.19% increase over the previous year.

The number of active listings is higher right now but the 4,758 listings that were added to the market in April last year, when there was a surge in inventory, are less than the 6,890 listings that appeared in April last year.

In April, however, there were fewer home sales than in March or in the previous year. In April, buyers purchased 3,701 houses. They purchased 4,019 houses in March and will purchase 5,277 in April 2022.

The average number of days that homes spend on the MLS is 29.

Libby Levinson Katz, Denver Realtor and DMAR Market Trends Committee, said that 'traditionally, during this time of the spring selling seasons, we see both an increase in active listings as month-end approaches as well as in new listings'. The sluggishness of these categories is disappointing.

Colorado legislators are actively addressing the recent increases in property taxes for most homeowners in metro areas.

The inventory drop in an already tight Denver market is a cause for concern. The rollout of the tax assessments in the last week of the month of April has had a negative impact on affordability. This is due to the significant increases in property tax bills throughout the state.

The sales volume of homes during a traditionally hot month in real estate has also decreased, from $3.8 Billion a year ago to $2.5 Billion in April and $2.67 Billion in March. Bidding wars from last spring are also fading, with buyers now paying 100.21% of list price compared to 106.87% last year.

New listings in the luxury market, or those properties that sell for more than $1 million, were down by 4.38% compared to March 2022 and by 20.35% compared to April 2022. The report shows that sales volume for this category are down 38.15 percent from April last year, when $1.1 Billion was sold. According to DMAR, the price per square feet for luxury homes in April was $382, down from $386 last March and $398 in April of 2014.