In an attempt to create bidding wars, banks are giving real-estate agents permission to list foreclosed homes at less than market value.
That’s among the reasons the median price of a single-family home in metro Denver declined 10 percent from $248,000 in April 2007 to $222,550 last month, according to statistics released Wednesday.
Prices were down 1 percent compared with March.
“The mentality of my clients is everybody’s shopping for a deal,” said Jon Terry, broker-owner of Intero Real Estate Services in Golden. “There’s a perception that if they buy a bank-owned property or a short sale, they’re going to get a deal.”
On the bright side, homes are on the market for less time than they were a year ago, according to statistics released Wednesday.
Single-family homes were on the market for an average of 103 days, down from 108 days in April 2007. Condominiums were on the market for 119 days, compared with 122 days last year. The median sales price for a condo dropped nearly 10 percent from $148,900 in April 2007 to $134,000 this past April.
Overall, the number of condos and single-family homes on the market dropped 6 percent from a year ago to 26,171 units. The number of sales dropped 3 percent to 4,265 compared with last year but was up 15 percent from March.
The number of homes under contract rose 7 percent since March and nearly 2 percent from April last year.
“We have a lot of activity,” said Mike Cox, a broker with ReMax Professionals Inc. who compiles a monthly report based on statistics from the multiple listing service. “The biggest fear is when people can’t afford to buy homes, period, so they pull out of the marketplace and it drives all the under-contract numbers and sold prices down.”
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
