Metro Denver’s housing market has run hot for nearly a decade now, so nobody would blame it for taking a breather, especially a year into a pandemic.
Gina Roth, an agent with the New Era Group at Your Castle Real Estate in Denver, experienced just how heated things are getting earlier this month on a listing for a Lakewood home.
Normally, it is not a given that sellers will even get the asking price.
“If the market is on the uptick, we can see that number in the 98% and 99% range.
And unlike 2017, during another heated period of activity, it isn’t just homes in the lower price ranges that are getting bid up.
“This is as insane a market as we have ever had,” said Lon Welsh, founder of Your Castle Real Estate in Denver.
Of the 13,807 sales in the first quarter examined, 56% sold for above the list price and another 18% at list price.
But in the Seven Hills neighborhood in Aurora, all 17 listings went for above the list price, selling for an average of $401,000.
In Thornton’s Northhaven neighborhood, which had 53 sales in the first quarter, nearly nine out of 10 sales closed above the list price.
“We are creating a set of haves and have nots,” said Ali Wolf, chief economist with Zonda during a housing market update Wednesday.
Roth said many of the buyers she works with are existing homeowners who can roll equity from their current homes into new properties.
If more buyers show up, the greater the odds that one will pay above the appraisal price if that is required.
For buyers who can’t swallow the idea of paying above list price, one strategy is to pursue listings that have been priced too high and are lingering.
In the area around Union Station, 47 of the listings in the first quarter sold below the list price, 25 at list price and two above list price or 3% of the total.
The share of homes selling above list price is just one way to measure activity in the market.
With those wrapping up, the higher-end properties purchased in prior years are now dominating again, explaining the big jump in price, which was accompanied by an unusual increase in days on market.
Lakewood has some hot neighborhoods, but the 80215 ZIP code was the coldest in terms of median sales prices, which fell 8.3%.
There were five ZIPs where the number of sales increased by 50% or more in the first quarter compared to the first quarter of 2020, usually a sign that more new homes and condos are hitting the market.
One of the most startling statistics is how quickly home sales have accelerated in some areas.