We are living in an unprecedented time with Safer-at-Home orders to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus and a nighttime curfew to diminish protests downtown. It might seem like searching for a new home isn't important, but no matter what else is going on in our world, there are still people who need to sell and people who need to buy. When the Denver metro area started opening up in May, those people, along with buyers who wanted to capitalize on record-low interest rates, generated a massive increase in the number of pending contracts. While the infection rate curve flattened, the number of pending offers skyrocketed, up 114.86 percent month over month.
Last month I referred to real estate agents as adaptable as we learned to sell homes without in-person showings. This month, the word that comes to mind is resilient. We hustled back to work as soon as restrictions loosened on May 9. Despite the continued risk of infection, a holiday weekend and the end of the month turmoil, new listings surged 56.44 percent from the prior month. Some of that can be attributed to sellers putting their homes back on the market after withdrawing them when showings were halted.
There were 7,170 active listings at the end of May, 4.60 percent more than April but 19.36 percent less than the previous year when there were 8,891. Sellers had the upper hand with low inventory in all price ranges except for homes priced over $1 million, where there were 9.50 months of detached luxury home inventory and an abundance of attached luxury homes for sale, with more than 25 months of inventory. Anything over six months is considered a buyer's market.
As expected, the number of closings was down in May following the weeks of strict showing restrictions, dropping 19.71 percent month over month and 48.86 percent year over year. The average close price didn't slip much month over month but dropped back below $500,000 to $495,925. That was 1.24 percent lower than April but 2.43 percent higher year to date.
The Memorial Day weekend is usually a slower time for real estate sales but the boost in buyer activity kept agents busy this past holiday. Does this mean our market has recovered from COVID-19? Not quite yet, but it appears we are well on our way. Low interest rates, renewed optimism and an increasing number of new choices are all positives. We are all hoping the virus and the violence stops soon. Will the downtown protests impact sales in that area? We have to wait and see what next months' stats say. Meet me here in July to find out.
We are living in an unprecedented time with Safer-at-Home orders to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus and a nighttime curfew to diminish protests downtown. It might seem like searching for a new home isn't important, but no matter what else is going on in our world, there are still people who need to sell and people who need to buy. When the Denver metro area started opening up in May, those people, along with buyers who wanted to capitalize on record-low interest rates, generated a massive increase in the number of pending contracts. While the infection rate curve flattened, the number of pending offers skyrocketed, up 114.86 percent month over month.
Last month I referred to real estate agents as adaptable as we learned to sell homes without in-person showings. This month, the word that comes to mind is resilient. We hustled back to work as soon as restrictions loosened on May 9. Despite the continued risk of infection, a holiday weekend and the end of the month turmoil, new listings surged 56.44 percent from the prior month. Some of that can be attributed to sellers putting their homes back on the market after withdrawing them when showings were halted.
There were 7,170 active listings at the end of May, 4.60 percent more than April but 19.36 percent less than the previous year when there were 8,891. Sellers had the upper hand with low inventory in all price ranges except for homes priced over $1 million, where there were 9.50 months of detached luxury home inventory and an abundance of attached luxury homes for sale, with more than 25 months of inventory. Anything over six months is considered a buyer's market.
As expected, the number of closings was down in May following the weeks of strict showing restrictions, dropping 19.71 percent month over month and 48.86 percent year over year. The average close price didn't slip much month over month but dropped back below $500,000 to $495,925. That was 1.24 percent lower than April but 2.43 percent higher year to date.
The Memorial Day weekend is usually a slower time for real estate sales but the boost in buyer activity kept agents busy this past holiday. Does this mean our market has recovered from COVID-19? Not quite yet, but it appears we are well on our way. Low interest rates, renewed optimism and an increasing number of new choices are all positives. We are all hoping the virus and the violence stops soon. Will the downtown protests impact sales in that area? We have to wait and see what next months' stats say. Meet me here in July to find out.
We are living in an unprecedented time with Safer-at-Home orders to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus and a nighttime curfew to diminish protests downtown. It might seem like searching for a new home isn't important, but no matter what else is going on in our world, there are still people who need to sell and people who need to buy. When the Denver metro area started opening up in May, those people, along with buyers who wanted to capitalize on record-low interest rates, generated a massive increase in the number of pending contracts. While the infection rate curve flattened, the number of pending offers skyrocketed, up 114.86 percent month over month.
Last month I referred to real estate agents as adaptable as we learned to sell homes without in-person showings. This month, the word that comes to mind is resilient. We hustled back to work as soon as restrictions loosened on May 9. Despite the continued risk of infection, a holiday weekend and the end of the month turmoil, new listings surged 56.44 percent from the prior month. Some of that can be attributed to sellers putting their homes back on the market after withdrawing them when showings were halted.
There were 7,170 active listings at the end of May, 4.60 percent more than April but 19.36 percent less than the previous year when there were 8,891. Sellers had the upper hand with low inventory in all price ranges except for homes priced over $1 million, where there were 9.50 months of detached luxury home inventory and an abundance of attached luxury homes for sale, with more than 25 months of inventory. Anything over six months is considered a buyer's market.
As expected, the number of closings was down in May following the weeks of strict showing restrictions, dropping 19.71 percent month over month and 48.86 percent year over year. The average close price didn't slip much month over month but dropped back below $500,000 to $495,925. That was 1.24 percent lower than April but 2.43 percent higher year to date.
The Memorial Day weekend is usually a slower time for real estate sales but the boost in buyer activity kept agents busy this past holiday. Does this mean our market has recovered from COVID-19? Not quite yet, but it appears we are well on our way. Low interest rates, renewed optimism and an increasing number of new choices are all positives. We are all hoping the virus and the violence stops soon. Will the downtown protests impact sales in that area? We have to wait and see what next months' stats say. Meet me here in July to find out.
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