Denver Lofts and Condos

Denver remains one of the top metro areas in the nation during July 2009 when home prices increased 1.5 percent, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. For the past five months, home price values have increased in Denver over each previous month. Nationally 18 out of the 20 metro areas experienced increases from June 2009 to July 2009. According to David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's, "These figures continue to support an indication of stabilization in national real estate values, but we do need to be cautious in coming months to assess whether the housing market will weather the expiration of the Federal First-Time Buyer's Tax Credit in November, anticipated higher unemployment rates and a possible increase in foreclosures" (www.standardandpoors.com). Denver's annual declines have decreased steadily over the past five months, falling only 2.9 percent since July 2008. Denver's housing statistics over the last five months seem to say Denver is on the road to recovery as well. Standard & Poor's reported that, "On the positive side, Cleveland, Dallas and Denver are nearing in on positive territory with July readings of -1.3%, -1.6% and -2.9%, respectively" (www.standardandpoors.com). The chart below illustrates the improvement in home values that Denver has experienced since March 2009. Each month's home values have increased over the previous month's home values. This is welcomed news after seven months of declines between September 2008 and February 2009.

 Improvement in the average sold price for the Metro Denver area slows 

The average sold price of residential homes and condominiums for the Metro Denver area remained nearly unchanged from August 2009 to September 2009. During September 2009, the average sold price was $251,112, which is 4.9 percent more than it was in September 2008. Since January 2005, the largest monthly gain was in March 2009 when prices jumped 6.6 percent to $232,395. The largest drop came in January 2007 when prices fell 8.7 percent to $266,066. The average sold price was lowest in January 2009 when it was $213, 330. To the right is a chart of the average sold price of residential homes and condominiums for the Denver Metro area since January 2005. For the fifth consecutive month, national single-family sales improved. New home sales rose 0.7 percent to 429,000 units during August 2009. August sales in theWest soared 12 percent above July's sales. Any hope that might have come from the rising sales is being overlooked by nervous home builders, who are already feeling the effects of the quickly-approaching expiration of the first-time home buyer tax credit. David Crowe, the National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist commented on the builders' outlook, "The fact that builders are not adding to their standing inventory indicates their concerns about what happens to buyer demand once the tax credit expires" (www.nahb.org).

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