With the spring buying season getting into full swing, home sales and prices in metropolitan Denver increased in April compared with the previous month, according to data released Thursday.
The number of homes sold was up 5.7 percent to 3,390, and the median price of a single-family home was up 3 percent to $210,000, according to Metrolist data. The median price for a condo rose 1.2 percent to $130,000.
“More of the lower-priced homes are selling right now,” said Gary Bauer, a Littleton independent real-estate analyst. “A good share of those are first-time buyers.”
But the number of sales was down 20.5 percent compared with last year’s 4,265. Prices for single-family homes are down 5.6 percent compared with last year’s $222,550, and condo prices are down 3.3 percent from $134,500 at the same time last year.
Inventory remained steady month over month, with 20,705 homes on the market. That’s down nearly 21 percent from this time last year.
“A good market has six months or less of inventory, and that’s basically where we are right now,” Bauer said.
While more than half of the homes sold were priced below $200,000, the upper-tier market is starting to show signs of life. Thirty-three homes priced at more than $1 million sold in April — the highest-priced was more than $4 million in the Denver Country Club area, Bauer said.
Re/Max Alliance broker Joe DiVito in Arvada said he believes the metro market has hit bottom.
“I’m not saying we don’t have some rocky roads ahead of us, but Denver has always been better than the rest of the country because we never peaked like the rest of the country,” DiVito said.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
