Denver Real Estate Trends - August 2021 ⋆ Denver Investment Real Estate

The Denver MLS trends data for August 2021 is out. Comparing year over year (August 2020 to August 2021) is better than comparing the previous month because we have defined seasonality trends. Trends are starting to go back to historical norms, and anecdotally, people are starting to feel a pressure release. Seasonality is coming back to the market, which means things are starting to slow down.

Showing trends are down this month to 12 showings per property, which is still higher than the historical 8-9. Active listings are down 11% compared to July, and sales prices are down 1%, though they’re still 15% higher compared to last year. I don’t see any red flags or data to indicate trouble with the market, just shifts back to normal trends.

Three Learning Options!

Listen to the podcast “#316: August 2021 Real Estate Trends – Denver and Colorado Springs” on the Denver Real Estate Investing Podcast
Watch the YouTube video (at the bottom).
Read the blog post. Note, the blog is an executive summary. Get the in-depth breakdown from the podcast or video.

August 2021 Denver Market Stats with Ideas and Observations

Overall, not much change from last month.

Number of active listings was 3,600

Down 12% from prior month
- That’s really odd; the usual seasonality at this time of the year would be an increase in inventory
- It was true for homes and condos
Down 35% from August 2020
- That’s not as big of a surprise

Number of new listings

We added 4,300 new home listings this month, down from 4,775 in August 2020
We added 1,800 new condo listings this month, down from 2,025 in August 2020

Showings per active listing

Showing traffic is down a bit, getting close to the traditional run rate

Under contract

Ended August 2021 with 6,375 under contract vs. 6,950 in August 2020
- I think that’s a win; there was pent up demand last summer since people didn’t list during the lock down in the Spring
Versus 5,825 and end of July 2021
- Great to see this solid growth

Number of sold units = 5,600

Down 10% from prior month
- We’d expect a decline from the typical seasonality, but that’s a little more than expected
Down 15% from August 2020.
- That makes sense; we didn’t sell many houses in 2Q 2020 during the shutdown, so 3Q 2020 was hyper busy.

Price: $535,000 average of condos and homes

-1% from prior month
- Overall that is pretty stable
- Good to see it slowing down
+14% vs August 2020
- It’s not in the 20% range, so this is ok

Days on market: 11 days

A bit longer than last year
54% faster than last year
This is pretty consistent with the days on market trends we have seen lately

Market news

Realtor.com reports that the Colorado Springs ZIP Code 80916 is the nations hottest market for sales.
In August 2010, we closed 941 distressed homes, which represented 32.3% of all closings. This August, we only closed seven distressed homes representing 0.18% of all closings. Of the seven, three were bank owned, three were HUD foreclosures and one was a short sale. As moratoriums on tenant evictions expire, some rentals may become distressed sales. It will be something to watch throughout the remainder of the year but don’t expect a flood.
Average active listings for August is 16,243 (1985 to 2020).

Source: The above executive summary is from Lon Welsh of Your Castle Real Estate.

GSE limitations for Investment and Second Home Transactions Suspended

A Press Release was announced September 14th, 2021 by the FHFA suspending certain provisions to the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (PSPA). This suspension included the limits to the percentage of Second Home and Investment Property transactions delivered to the Agencies (Fannie/Freddie).

No announcement has been received from the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac as of this time. In anticipation of an announcement from the GSEs, NOVA Home Loans who is one of our preferred lenders has removed the additional price adjustment for Investment Properties that was put in place on April 9th of this year, effective for loans locked on or after 9/15/21. The 2nd Home adjustment that was put in place in April was already removed on July 29th of this year, so no adjustment will be effective for 2nd Homes.

This will be a nice pricing improvement!

Denver Housing Trends August 2021

Showing per active listing trends for Denver

Denver started the year at almost 2x the historical average. After peaking in February, it’s been slowing down every month. We had 12 showings / active listing in August. That’s 30% above the historical norm (2017-2019) of 9 but not bad. It’s a little more than the very hot market (for August!) we had in 2020. Overall a good trend.