Front Range Real Estate Market Update, August 22, 2024

Buyers are pulling back as we head toward the fall. We can tell because showing activity throughout the metro area is down more than 15% compared to a year ago, and homes are taking longer to go under contract.

I’ve heard a number of reasons why buyers may not be shopping for homes – everything from the intense heat to the stock market fall we saw a couple weeks ago. Trepidation surrounding the upcoming presidential election may be at play, while many buyers hope rates will come down next month.

Any or all of these may be reasons buyers are sitting on the sidelines, but the question is, is it a good time to buy?

There are a number of reasons why the answer may be yes.

First, buyers may get a reasonable price. Homes are selling for below the asking price, even after sellers have reduced their asking prices once or twice. In Denver, the number of sellers who had reduced their asking price was up 5.6% year-over-year last month. In Jefferson County, about half of all homes on the market now have been reduced in price.

There are also more homes for sale now, which puts pressure on sellers to price competitively and gives buyers more to choose from.

We measure the inventory of homes for sale by “months of supply,” which is how long it would take for all homes to sell if no other homes came onto the market at the current pace of sales.

Right now, in Metro Denver and throughout the state of Colorado, we have about four months of inventory—a number we haven’t seen since August 2013! Statewide, inventory increased almost 25% year-over-year in July and about 35% in the Denver metro area.

What’s the cost of waiting?

If you’re a buyer who’s on the fence, you should understand that homes may not be less expensive in the near future. If mortgage rates fall, buyers who aren’t looking now may start shopping again. If demand increases significantly, buyers may start competing with multiple other buyers, driving home prices back up.