Q: What Has COVID-19 Done to Our Denver Market?

Here’s what COVID-19 has done to our Denver real estate market.

What’s the state of our market since the COVID-19 pandemic began? 

There was a time when in-person showings were shut down, and for good reason. As you can imagine, that more or less froze the market, but pricing barely slipped. This shows that properties that are well-marketed and well-priced are still selling (in most cases) at or close to list price. 

Over the last few months, we’ve seen the industry adapt through the addition of masks, gloves, social distancing, virtual tours, and the information-gathering phase of the home buying process being moved online. This not only keeps our clients safe, but it also protects the agents, brokers, appraisers, etc. 

As far as what’s going on now, I’m sure you’re also hearing a lot about low mortgage rates. This is because the Federal Reserve moved the rate down to zero and introduced a $700 billion quantitative easing program. One of our clients recently was quoted a rate of 2.875% for a 30-year fixed-rate, which is absolutely incredible. 

Over the last few months, we’ve seen the industry adapt. 

The average sold price in the Denver metro area dipped slightly to $495,925, it’s been hovering around that mark for most of the year. As you can imagine, there are a lot more people looking at homes. Between April and May, and the number of properties under contract surged 115%. 

Additionally, new listings rose 56% as more people felt comfortable putting their homes on the market. It should be noted, though, that new listings are still down 20% year over year. Buyers are still waiting for a rush of inventory, but we haven’t seen that yet. I know this can be frustrating, but we’re hoping inventory will continue to increase in the coming months. I just read a report stating that experts predict a 15% drop in home sales and a 1.1% bump in prices across the U.S. in the coming months. 

Lastly, we’ve all seen the staggering number of unemployment claims, and though there are a lot of relief programs in place (mortgage forbearance, PPP funds, etc.), it’s hard to imagine that we won’t feel a very real impact once these programs end. The market is good right now, but when they do end, it could potentially shrink the buyer pool, and create a very real need for sellers to sell. 

If you have any questions about our Denver market or are thinking of buying or selling soon, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’m here to help.