Dive Brief:
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Housing inventory in Denver is among the tightest in the nation. The city had just a one-month supply of for-sale homes in April, the Denver Business Journal reported, compared to the six-month inventory that’s considered healthy.
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Homes there are also selling quickly, staying on the market for an average of 25 days last month, compared to the national average of 57 days.
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Denver ranked second in the country in both categories in April. Seattle had the tightest supply, at just under one month, while San Francisco led in sales speed, with homes averaging 22 days on the market.
Dive Insight:
In April, financial services firm SmartAsset ranked Denver’s housing market the ninth-healthiest in the nation based on its general stability and how easy it is to sell a home there. In a recent analysis by Trulia, Denver led all other major cities in the percentage of homes (98.7%) that have returned to their pre-recession values.
The metro's tight inventory — with 5,300 active listings in April compared to a historical average of 15,710 — is giving a boost to new-home construction as buyers look for alternatives to bidding wars, according to the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. DMAR has expressed concern about the city’s home prices, which reached record highs in April at a growth rate that is outpacing that of wages.
Indeed, in Q1 2017, northern Colorado accounted for seven of the 12 U.S. counties with the lowest levels of relative home affordability, based on an ATTOM Data Solutions index analyzing median prices versus wages at present and over time. For several of those counties, this represents a jarring shift, as many historically affordable markets are suddenly facing dramatic price increases.
