Real estate trends: Colorado’s January home listings soar 90%

Despite a dramatic surge in single-family listings last month that exceeded new listings from January of the previous two years, median home prices remain stable, which poses ongoing challenges for homeowners hoping to enter the market.

Nearly 4,000 single-family listings hit the Denver metro, up 105% from December and a 27% increase from a year ago.

Statewide, the new 6,682 single-family listings were up more than 90% from December to January and about 23% from a year ago.

Colorado Springs-area realtor Jay Gupta called the market bittersweet.

“As the saying goes, ‘Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.’ This famous line from Samuel Taylor Coleridge highlights the irony and frustration of eager buyers who, despite desire and willingness to purchase, are being kept back by devastating inflationary economic conditions, affordability challenges, and tumultuous political turmoil blurring the future.”

Activity mixed across the metro

While activity is up in Aurora and Denver, it’s been quiet in Broomfield and Boulder.

Despite the cold temperatures in January, our housing market saw increased activity, with more listings and pending and closed sales.

“It appears that buyers are ready, and inventory is there to meet the demand. It will be interesting to see how the next few months play out,” said Aurora-area realtor Sunny Banka.

Cooper Thayer, a broker associate with the Thayer Group in Castle Rock, said buyers and sellers are eager to engage.

“It feels like buyers and sellers who have waited on the sidelines over the past few months are itching to move, and pent-up supply and demand are about ready to enter the market. Despite cooling activity over the past two years, driven by a lack of motivation, there’s an underlying sense of eagerness emanating from both the buy- and sell-side,” he said.

“If market conditions continue to become more attractive in the coming months, we could be in for a wave of demand driving the Denver-metro market back to the competitive, fast-moving nature we’ve come to expect.”

Meanwhile, in Boulder and Broomfield, Kelly Moye of Compass said the year “started out with a whisper. While many were hoping for renewed energy after the first of the year, we’ve seen more of a cautious toe-dipping from buyers and continued reluctance from sellers.”

She said Broomfield County’s numbers are flat, with no new listings or appreciation since last year. A few more listings hit the market in Boulder County, but they take longer to sell, with an average of 80 days on the market, compared to 48 in Broomfield County.

“The spring offers hope for more inventory, but sellers need to be prepared to offer concessions to buy down the interest rate for interested buyers,” Moye said. “The general feeling of the market is optimistic but cautious.”

The news and editorial staffs of The Denver Post had no role in this post’s preparation.