Homebuyers continued to attend for mortgage charges to drop final 12 months and sellers, particularly apartment house owners, waited for patrons to point out up in a significant means throughout what was one other sluggish 12 months for the state’s housing market, based on a month-to-month replace from the Colorado Affiliation of Realtors.
The variety of single-family properties offered statewide rose a modest 3.1%, from 64,086 in 2023 to 66,098 in 2024. It was a giant enchancment from the 19.1% gross sales decline between 2022 and 2023. However the gross sales quantity paled in comparison with the tempo of prior years, like 2015, when the state noticed 110,000 single-family properties offered and 2021 when practically 98,000 properties offered, based on prior CAR stories.
If the single-family market was manageably chilly, the townhome and apartment market turned frigid as rising affiliation and insurance coverage prices scared would-be patrons away. Patrons bought 9.6% fewer townhomes and condos final 12 months than in 2023, regardless of there being a $157,500 price benefit to going with an connected house statewide and a $215,000 hole in metro Denver.
A spot additionally confirmed up in adjustments within the provide of energetic listings for every housing kind. The one-family house stock rose 5.1% to 14,417 on the finish of the 12 months, whereas the apartment and townhome stock was up 20.7% to five,080 final 12 months as of December.
Attending to the closing desk has additionally been a lot harder for sellers, with 45% of listings that offered requiring a value minimize final 12 months. Single-family house listings that offered spent 54 days on common in the marketplace final 12 months in comparison with 49 days in 2023. For condos, the typical went up from 48 to 59 days and was at 76 days in December, sometimes a much less busy month.
“Patrons and sellers have been pressured to take a slower, extra methodical method to the market in 2024, as purchaser demand was curbed by a scarcity of motivation,” stated Denver Realtor Cooper Thayer in feedback accompanying the report.
Thayer blamed a stubbornly excessive 30-year mortgage price, which fluctuated between 6.5% to 7% regardless of Federal Reserve price cuts within the final 4 months of the 12 months. Patrons had been banking on decrease mortgage charges they usually didn’t arrive in 2024.
“With the slowdown in purchaser exercise, stock in the marketplace persistently remained over three months’ provide all through a lot of the 12 months, and houses took longer on common to promote. … Nevertheless, the slower market was not essentially unhealthy and offered cost-conscious patrons with comparatively extra choices and extra time to discover a house,” he stated.
Regardless of growing affordability pressures and elevated rates of interest, house costs refused to crack. Statewide, the median value for a single-family house was $580,000 in 2024, up 2.7% from $565,000 in 2023 on a year-to-date foundation. Apartment and townhome costs barely budged, falling from $425,000 in 2023 to $422,500 in 2024, or a 0.6% drop.
“Throughout the transient 2024 moments when rates of interest fell into the low sixes, patrons rose to the event and made purchases,” Fort Collins Realtor Chris Hardy stated within the report. “These mortgage price drops have been by no means long-lived, and stock continued to build up to ranges not seen in at the least 5 years.”
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