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Denver-area home resales down 23% in September from 2009
Denver Business Journal - by Mark Harden
Sales of existing homes in the Denver area fell 23 percent in September from a year earlier, and the inventory of unsold homes rose 18 percent, according to the latest monthly analysis of Metrolist sales data by broker Gary Bauer.
But there was a smaller month-to-month decline in home resales in September than in previous months.
Bauer said the new numbers continue to reflect the fast that "the economy is soft and consumer confidence remains low."
An estimated 2,958 resales of existing houses and condos closed in September in the area, down 23.1 percent from the September 2009 total of 3,846 homes, Bauer's report says.
That follows a 21.2 percent year-over-year decline in August and a 26.6 percent yearly decline in July.
RELATED: Denver home prices down 0.1% in July from 2009, says Case-Shiller Index
Meanwhile, home-resale closings in September were down 3.9 percent from August's total of 3,079, a smaller month-to-month decrease than August's 5.5 percent drop and July's 19.5 percent decline.
Separately, Bauer reported that Denver-area existing homes under contract in September totaled 3,646, down 30.3 percent from September 2009 and down 8.1 percent from August of this year. Home sales generally close 30 to 90 days after they go under contract.
There were 23,332 unsold existing homes on the market in September, Bauer figures, up 17.6 percent from a year earlier but down 1.2 percent from August 2010.
Denver-area existing houses sold for a median of $230,000 in September -- down a bit from $239,000 the month before but up from a median of $225,000 in September 2009, Bauer said. Condos sold for a median $129,000, down a bit from August's $130,000 and from last September's $145,000
As for averages, Bauer reported a September average home sale price of $290,025 and average condo price of $154,913.
For the first nine months of 2010 through September, Bauer reported closed home resales in the metro area down 4 percent from a year earlier.
Existing home sales, or resales, are those of homes that have been sold at least once before. Bauer's report does not include sales of newly built homes.
The numbers to some degree show the impact of the ending of the federal government’s first-time homebuyer tax credit, for which the deadline for homes under contract to qualify was April 30.
Analysts say the tax credit boosted home sales in the months before the deadline and moved up many purchases that otherwise might have happened in the summer, causing summer numbers to sag more than they would have otherwise.
Bauer, an independent residential broker in Littleton, uses data from Metrolist of Greenwood Village, metro Denver’s Multiple Listing Service, providing home-sale data to real estate professionals.
mharden@bizjournals.com
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