An Interesting Wrinkle in Latest Sales Data
August 17, 2015 | Market Trends
Wrinkles are not good, generally. Most people don’t want them and plastic surgeons and dry cleaners make a living out of getting rid of them.
Wrinkles in real estate sales trends, however, can be desirable. And there seems to be a wrinkle in the last stats on the metro Denver real estate market.
Before we get to that interesting tidbit in July’s data, here’s a summary at the end of the first seven months of 2015:
As you can see, the market is chugging right along. Prices continue to climb at or near double-digit rates, making sellers happy. More homes are changing hands this year versus last year, making agents happy.
The intriguing little change is with the inventory of homes on the market at the end of July. For the first time this year, that number is very close to what it was at this time last year.
We had a bit over 8,900 homes on the market at the end of July. Last July, it was a bit under 9,500 properties available for purchase. The difference of just over 6% is the smallest gap this year. Every other month in 2015, the number of homes on the market was 25% to 33% below the same month in the prior year.
This small shift – this little wrinkle – has produced a small but noticeable effect over the last few weeks. We’d characterize it as the market “calming down” or “settling in” to a more normal pattern. It is still a strong seller’s market. However, properties are hanging around on the market for more than a nanosecond and the multiple offer mania is easing a bit.
This may make life a little easier for those people that have wanted to make a move but have been deterred by worries over the ability to find the right replacement property for their current home.
The reports linked at the end of this post have additional details about market trends. They provide data on the single family and multi-family segments of the market. Be sure to take a peek.
If you like the look of those reports, we can produce one for you that is specific to your zip code and property type. The market is not uniform. Your part of town may be doing better or worse than the metro-wide averages. This report may help you iron out any wrinkles in the plans for making a move in the current real estate environment.
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