You are likely hearing ‘everywhere’ that the availability of resale home inventory in the Denver metro area is low. It has also been reported that there have been fewer homes sales so far this year. This makes it look like both supply and demand are down for the year.
In reality, neither is true. It can all be confusing so let me expand it a bit; also, we’ve a company blog post that helps unravel the mystery.
In short, the decrease in home sales is a bit of a mirage. Due to lags in reporting, the true number of sales for January through June of 2014 will not be known for a few more weeks. When all is said and done, I expect we’ll be with a percent or two of last year’s numbers.
Thus, while inventory is historically out of balance, this is not because there are fewer sellers. For all practical purposes, we’ve had the same number of sellers this year as last year. Supply is steady even though inventory is low.
At the same time, buyer demand is through the roof and much higher than the sale numbers show. This is significantly because of the “multiple-offer” situation. A high percentage of homes that come on the market have multiple offers. For every one that goes under contract and sells, two or three other buyers are left to continue their search. If there was more resale inventory, we’d have 20%-30 % or more sales so far this year.
Bottom Line: Supply is steady, not down. Demand is up, big time. Read more about the whole market situation on the CHR blog HERE.
Remember: I have detailed statistics on what the Denver metro market is doing in each zip code for both single-family and multi-family homes. Call me if you’d like a report for your type of house in your specific zip code.
