January homebuyers face historically low inventory in Denver metro

January may have been one of the coldest and snowiest on record, but despite the chill, Denver’s housing market started to thaw out.

Buyers closed on 2,041 homes and condos in January in the 11-county metro area.

That’s a decline from the 2,884 sold in December and the 3,072 sold in January last year, according to January’s Denver Metro Association of Realtors monthly trends report.

But pending sales rose to 3,339, up more than 50% from December and only an 8 percent decline from January 2022. That trend shows stabilizing mortgage rates are bringing buyers back into the market, Libby Levinson-Katz, head of the DMAR Market Trends Committee, wrote in the report.

“While homes are not flying off the market within a weekend, buyers are still in the market. They have wrapped their heads around higher interest rates, have factored in rate buydowns into their purchase costs and are simply taking their time to find the right home,” Levinson-Katz said.

Home sales prices stabilize

January’s median home price for a single-family home was $595,000, down 0.83% from December and 0.68% from a year ago. The median close price for all properties was $535,500, down 3.3% from December and 1.1% from a year ago.

But low inventory may push prices higher again as the weather warms up.

Jared Blank, a managing partner at The Agency Denver, said his agents see multiple offers in every price point from $300,000 $6 million.

Ashleigh Fredrickson, a broker with The Agency Denver, said her clients decided not to put in an offer on a $3.5 million home because the competition was fierce.