January's real estate stats for the South Metro Denver area paints two very distinct pictures, one for the sellers and one for the buyers! 

The Seller's picture shows a group of people who have just sold their homes, sellers full of smiles with a sense of euphoria and with lots dollar signs floating around.  There may even be a caption that might read something like this,  'Strongest Seller's Market in Denver's History'.  There is one statistic that best explains why sellers are Euphoric…the number of Active Listings is only 181 homes!  By comparison, the pre-pandemic number of homes for sale in the South Metro Denver area in January 2020 was 974 homes!  The unbelievably low inventory of homes for sale combined with insatiable buyer demand has resulted in skyrocketing home prices…thus all the dollar signs. 

The Buyer's picture is in stark contrast to the one described above.  Here we have a group of buyers with looks of anxiety and frustration. Again, there are lots of dollar signs, but this time, they are coming out of the buyer's wallet and into the wide open arms of sellers in terms of higher home prices and into the lender's coffers in terms of higher interest rates.  Even though we're looking at January statistics, typically one of the slowest months of the year, it really feels like we're at the height of the spring market with most listings still receiving multiple offers and prices often tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars over list price.

My advice to sellers!  If you are an upcoming seller, or even just had the wild idea of selling, this is a unique opportunity to take advantage of BOTH the record high home prices and the exceptionally low number of competing homes for sale.  A dream scenario for all sellers! 

Buyers, yes, it's not easy out there, but having an experienced broker on your team is critically important to navigate this challenging market.  It's tough but not impossible!  Looking forward, it will be interesting to see how rising interest rates impact buyer demand.  Increased rates do reduce buyer's purchase power; however, I'm hopeful that the increasing rates will lead to a more balanced real estate market.  We need more inventory, because there are so many buyers desperate to purchase a new home!

Have questions about buying?  Questions about selling?  Or just general questions about our local real estate market?  Give me a call…I love talking everything real estate!