The Current State of Real Estate in Denver CO
The Denver CO real estate market remains the 21st largest market in the nation with nearly 13,000 single-family permits issued in 2006. But even this impressive market can’t shake the housing slump that has gripped the nation.
Denver CO real estate traffic remains as depressed as it was in September, mainly due to tighter lending. Homes just aren’t as affordable due to the lack of mortgages in the lending industry. Banks are simply not as willing to lend money as they were six months ago.
Even those real estate agents who had good traffic at their locations had a hard time qualifying buyers. Buyers also struggled to make minimum down payments, again a sign of the tightening lending industry that just six months ago was handing out 90% and 100% loans like candy on Halloween. In fact, no doc loans for freelancers have completely disappeared, eliminating entire sectors of real estate traffic from different agencies.
Denver has a high percentage of first-time homebuyers, as well as buyers with poor credit. This is one of the main reasons Denver is nearly the nation’s leader in foreclosures.
Denver saw a decline in new construction as home prices continued to fall in October. This helped reduce overall housing inventories. But the time to sell index continued due to the worsening of the weak level of real estate traffic in general.
What does this mean for you? That depends on your perspective. If you are currently renting, have a steady job with steady income, and can get a traditional 20% down payment on a home, you are gold! Now is the time to go find that new home. Negotiate with the seller. If you’re a developer with dozens of houses on the market, you’ll be willing to drop your prices considerably.
If, on the other hand, you own your home and were hoping to buy something new, your image is not so optimistic. You won’t get as much for your home as you expected. Which means you may not be able to get the 20% you need for that beautiful new home you’ve been dreaming about. And that’s assuming you can actually sell your house.
And if you’re a builder, maybe it’s time to reconsider starting that next house. Take this time to shore up your investments and reshape your bottom line. Perhaps lowering the price a little more is not such a bad idea. Can you think of any alternative marketing steps you can take to sell your homes?
Recently a couple, desperate to sell their house, added this to their offer: Buy our house and when we die we’ll give you your money back.
They had three offers that same day.