The number of homes sold at or above $1 million in the Denver metro area has doubled compared to the first quarter of 2018, 2019, and 2020. And those high-priced homes are selling even faster than average, lasting in one-third of the time and double the pace of recent years, reports the Denver Post. Between 649 and 661 $1 million-plus priced homes were sold during the first quarter of 2018 through 2020, but 1,353 sold in the first quarter of 2021. Pricey listings now last just one week compared to a median of 23 days in 2020 and 48 days in 2017.
Still, inventory levels remain down 62.2% from April 2020 and that is where comparisons get messy. Sellers, fearful of having strangers visiting their homes during a pandemic, yanked listings or held off on putting their homes up for sale back then. New listings that month were 43% below the number that showed up last month, Abrams noted.
The pandemic gave single-family homes a marketing edge over condos and that trend remains in play, although the condo market is heating up. Single-family listings spent an average of 10 days on the market last month, while condos spent 21 days. Average listing days for single-family homes are down 37.5% from March and half of year-ago levels. Condos saw a nearly 20% drop in listing times last month, but are only down 8.7% from April last year, when a big chill descended on the market.
Tight supply continues to push up prices. The median closing price of a home sold in metro Denver last month hit a record $585,000, up 4.3% from March and 23.2% from a year earlier. Condo prices also picked up the pace, with the median sales price of $376,360 a 7.3% increase from March and a 16.9% gain on the year.
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