According to The Denver Post, after a tepid December, home listings and pending sales both spiked upwards in Denver during January. The fresh data comes from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors, who report that 4,853 homes and condos were listed for sale in January, up from 2,564 recorded in December. “I’ve always told my December buyers to not get discouraged by a lack of choices; just like Colorado’s oft-changing weather, if they just hang in there, it will change,” said Jill Schafer, chairwoman of the DMAR Market Trends Committee.
And change it did. Buyers, starved after months of falling inventory, voraciously consumed the new supply. The surge in activity didn’t show up yet in closed sales, which were down 34.2% from December and up 0.8% from January of last year.
But that’s primarily a timing issue. The number of pending sales or homes under contract surged 43% from December and is up 24.2% from January 2019. Sales completed in February should surge based on the contracts reached in January.
Demand was so strong that even with the big jump in listings, the inventory of homes and condos available for sale at the end of the month fell to 4,941, a 1.91% decline from December and 16% drop from January 2019.
With the inventory of available properties back below 5,000, interest rates low and buyers anxious to own, flashes of the frenzied markets seen in the middle of last decade are starting to emerge again, said Steve Danyliw, a local Realtor and member of the market trends committee. Frenzied as in having to write an offer on the hood of a car after touring a home so as not to let other buyers get ahead of your clients.
