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At the end of last month, only 1,120 single-family homes and 904 townhomes and condos were available for purchase across all of metro Denver and a few nearby counties, according to a monthly update from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. To understand just how thin that supply is, the region has averaged 13,531 active listings at the end of February in records going back to 1985. Even though far more single-family homes are available to go on the market than in 1985 or 1995 or 2005 — about 815,000 total by U.S. Census Bureau counts — the number of homes actually available for sale has never been lower. “The feeling of frustration and exasperation is present throughout the real estate community,” said Andrew Abrams, chairman of the DMAR Market Trends Committee, in comments accompanying the report. Abrams detailed how he wrote one offer for $101,000 above the asking price and another for $90,000 above and lost them both last month. But he adds that blaming sluggish … [Read more...] about Metro Denver housing market selling homes faster and faster

First-time homebuyers don’t need another report telling them how hard it is to get a foot in the door, but metro Denver continues to rank as one of the least affordable housing markets outside either coast, according to a new study from NerdWallet . If that weren’t bad enough, a 32% decline in available listings between the third and fourth quarters was the largest drop of any major metro . But buyers did get a break from a 2% decline in the average list price, which fell from $536,378 in the third quarter to $524,387 in the fourth in metro Denver. The NerdWallet study looked at what multiple of median household income a first-time buyer would have to spend to purchase a home at the average listing price in the 50 largest U.S. metros during the fourth quarter. “The affordability ratio is really a buyer’s tool, to gauge whether a home is a realistic target quickly. Looking at homes three times your income has been generally considered a good place to start, but none of the 50 … [Read more...] about Denver housing market remains a tough nut to crack for first-time buyers

Are apartment developers hitting the accelerator as a cliff of demand approaches or are they simply trying to keep up in a housing market that continues to defy expectations ? Metro Denver should see another 12,000 apartments come on the market in 2018, continuing a long and unprecedented streak of multi-family construction, said Greg Willett, chief economist with RealPage, a real estate technology and analytics firm. Builders delivered 10,854 new apartments in metro Denver last year, and tenants soaked up 10,201 of them, keeping the occupancy rate stable at 94.3 percent, according to RealPage. RealPage estimates apartment rents in metro Denver rose 3.2 percent in 2017, the 15th-fastest gain in the country and ahead of the U.S. gain of 2.5 percent. The company puts the typical monthly rent at $1,404 in metro Denver. The new supply should keep landlords and managers busy attracting tenants and also dampen any rent spikes. “It could be tough for property owners and … [Read more...] about Metro Denver expects another 12,000 apartments to come on the market in 2018

Apartment rents slid a little and vacancy rates rose as metro Denver absorbed a historically large number of new apartments during the third quarter, according to a market update Wednesday from the Apartment Association of Metro Denver. The metro area has added 9,713 new apartments in the first nine months of this year, a 35 percent increase from the same period in 2016, which was a big year. Of this year’s new supply, 4,315 units came online in July, August and September. “It’s equivalent to completing a new 48-unit apartment community every day for three months straight. That’s great news for a city struggling to keep up with demand for housing,” Teo Nicolais, a real estate instructor at the Harvard Extension School, said in a release accompanying the report. The metro area will easily smash through the 10,000 new units mark this year, the first time that has happened in more than three decades, said Nicolais. “We are going to hit the supply crescendo,” said the report’s … [Read more...] about Modest relief for apartment dwellers: Metro Denver rents slip as new units flood market

Stocks took heavy losses Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank would not hike interest rates for only temporary rise in inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a loss of nearly 350 points Thursday, falling 1.1 percent. The Nasdaq composite fell 2.1 percent, wiping out its 2021 gains, and the S&P 500 fell 1.3 percent. The yield on a 10-year Treasury bond also rose to 1.54 percent Thursday, a sign of rising inflation fears on Wall Street. ADVERTISEMENT The stock market has been volatile for several weeks amid growing concern among some traders about the Fed’s approach to inflation as the U.S. nears the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Treasury yields have steadily risen from ultra-low levels as President Biden Joe Biden The West needs a more collaborative approach to Taiwan Abbott's medical advisers were not all consulted before he lifted Texas mask mandate House approves George Floyd Justice in … [Read more...] about Stocks sink after Powell fails to appease jittery traders