Denver April 2007 Home Sales

May 28, 2007

The Denver region continued its years-long stretch of flat housing prices in April. The median price paid fell just shy of the year-ago mark for the sixth consecutive month as sales eased to the slowest pace in at least nine years, a real estate information service reported.

The 4,711 new and resale homes that closed escrow in the Denver-Aurora metro area last month nearly matched March's 4,723 sales but fell 8.1 percent short of the April 2006 total, according to DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla, Calif. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records

Resale activity was slightly higher last month than in April 2006, but a 35.4 percent year-over-year decline in new home transactions made last month's sales total the lowest DataQuick has on record for an April. The firm's statistics for the majority of the metro area begin in 1998, reflecting sales in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Park counties (MSA exclusions below).

The median price paid last month for all homes combined in the region was $235,000. That was up slightly from $233,000 in March but down 0.8 percent from $237,000 in April 2006. Last month's median was 5.2 percent lower than the area's peak $248,000 median in June 2006.

For economic reasons Denver missed out on much of this decade's historic housing boom, which led to a doubling or near-doubling of prices in some Western markets. The Denver area's median has vacillated month-to-month over the past few years but overall has changed little. It was exactly the same back in April 2005 and was just 3.5 percent lower ($227,000) in April 2004.

The year-over-year change in the region's median price has been slightly negative for six months. Prior to that, the year-over-year change each month had been in the single digits, typically less than 5 percent, since mid 2001.

Sales and price trends were a bit stronger last month in neighboring Boulder County, where 543 homes closed escrow in April. That was up 21 percent from March and up 6.5 percent from April 2006. The median price paid was $314,000, up 3.1 percent from March and up 1.3 percent from last year. April's median was 4.8 percent below Boulder County's peak $330,000 median last September.

Denver-Aurora, CO MSA*
	# of sales			Median sale price
	Apr-06	Apr-07	%Chg	Apr-06	Apr-07	%Chg
Resale houses	3,076	3,084	0.3%	$240,000	$238,000	-0.8%
Resale condos	768	797	3.8%	$149,000	$144,500	-3.0%
New homes	1285	830	-35.4%	$295,000	$300,000	1.7%
All homes	5,129	4,711	-8.1%	$237,000	$235,000	-0.8%

*Data not available for Elbert and Gilpin counties, which are part of the Denver-Aurora MSA

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916)456-7157 or John Karevoll (909) 867-9534

Copyright 2005 DataQuick Information Systems.
All rights reserved.