Sales and prices for existing homes were up in May compared with the previous month but still significantly lower than the same time last year.
Buyers purchased 4,664 homes last month, up 9.4 percent compared with April, according to a report on the metro Denver housing market issued Thursday. But the number of homes sold was down 8.2 percent compared with the same month last year.
“It was a great May,” said Gary Bauer, an independent real-estate analyst. “You’ve got sellers who are educated and pricing appropriately and buyers who are making appropriate offers.”
Median prices for single-family homes rose 1.8 percent from April to $226,500. That’s still 9.8 percent less than the same period a year ago, when the median price was $251,155.
Median prices for condos were up 10 percent in May compared with the previous month but down 4.5 percent from last year’s $155,000.
“I’m tremendously encouraged by what we saw in our condo market,” said Mike Cox, a real-estate consultant with Re/Max Professionals Inc. “The condo market has been a sore point for quite a while. It’s nice to see some life in that segment of the market.”
Inventory also is down 9.5 percent to 26,333, compared with the same time last year.
Sales are particularly strong in the under-$200,000 price range, Cox said.
“That’s our way of flushing out our foreclosure problem,” he said. “We’re absorbing those properties.”
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
