July metro home sales drop 26.6% compared with 2009

The number of homes sold in July in metro Denver plunged 26.6 percent compared with the same month a year ago, according to data released Tuesday.

There were 3,259 homes sold in the metropolitan area last month, compared with 4,440 for the same period in 2009, according to Metrolist data. The decline comes during a month that historically is the premier month for home sales.

"Consumers lost focus on the home purchase this month," said Gary Bauer, an independent real-estate analyst. "Even though we got the best interest rates in history, it's still very difficult to get a loan, and consumer confidence has decreased because of the focus on jobs, the economy, taxes and everything else."

The now-expired first-time-buyer and move-up-buyer tax credits also have affected home sales, stealing demand from the second half of the year.

Home purchasers had until the end of April to put a home under contract to qualify for an $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time owners or a $6,500 tax credit for move-up buyers.

"We had some really robust sales activity in the first half of the year, and now we're suffering the fallout from that," said Lon Welsh, managing broker of Your Castle Real Estate.

Even though the total number of homes sold this year is up 1.9 percent compared with the same period a year ago, Welsh said he wouldn't be surprised if sales volume for 2010 is lower than it was last year.

"The first round of the tax credits were in the fourth quarter last year and stimulated demand and prices," Welsh said. "We won't have anything like that."

Meanwhile, the median price for a single-family home was up 4.4 percent in July to $240,000, compared with $229,900 for the same month last year.

The median price for a condo, however, declined 11 percent to $129,000, compared with $145,500 in July last year.

"Prices (for single-family homes) are still up," Bauer said, "but that is just because historically, July is the move-up month. That's when people are moving up for their families."

Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com