Brad and Lori Doi didn’t hesitate to buy a home in Cherry Creek last month. They made a full-price offer on the house at 266 Cook St. six days after it was listed for $925,000.
“We had an impossible list of demands, and this met all of our needs,” said Lori Doi, a flight attendant for United Airlines.
Now, the Dois are working to sell their current home at 732 Detroit St. It’s listed for $1.38 million.
Expensive houses – particularly in Denver’s southeast suburbs – are selling well, pushing up the average selling price for existing homes in the rest of the metro area.
In the southeast suburbs, which include Cherry Hills, Greenwood Village and parts of Centennial and unincorporated Arapahoe County, the average sale price rose in June to $711,800 from $566,996 in May. Metro wide, the average sale price rose to $335,111 in June from $315,257 the month before.
“The higher-end market still seems to be chugging along pretty well,” said Steve McGuire of Re/Max Professionals in Highlands Ranch. “For homes that are top quality and priced right, there’s a pretty good market.”
But average sales prices in the southeast suburbs aren’t increasing faster than the rest of the metro area, said Larry Hotz, an agent with the Kentwood Co. who specializes in Cherry Hills.
“The (average) is going up because the mix of homes is skewing higher,” Hotz said.
More upper-end homes are selling than lower-priced homes.
Rising interest rates and a record foreclosure rate are hurting the lower-end market.
“Each month is getting a little worse in the lower-end price ranges,” McGuire said.
The number of existing homes on the market hit a record in June at 31,900, up from 30,457 in May. While the volume should start to taper off, it’s an indication that buyers are being more selective, independent real-estate analyst Gary Bauer said.
“They’re looking at properties several times,” he said. “They’re looking at a lot of different types of properties and trying to make it fit their needs 100 percent.
“While there may be showings on your listing, it doesn’t mean the buyer is going to move on it right away because they want to see what’s out in the market.”
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-820-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
