Metro Denver median home prices finally dropped

After 2 years of growth

BY TAMARA CHUANG THE COLORADO SUN

For the rst time in recent memory, the median price of a house in metro Denver is less than it was a year ago.

And for some who make a living selling houses, there’s a sense of relief.

“Every single month in 2021 and the rst half of 2022, everybody in our (real estate) community went, ‘Oh my goodness. How much more can this go? What will buyers put up with?’ I

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mean having to pay a penny over the appraised value is just bonkers to me,” said Matt Leprino, CEO of Denverbased real estate brokerage Remingo.

Now, he said, “It’s calm, it’s a very tepid pool right now. It’s not increasing. It’s not going crazy. Days on market are up. But they’re up from historic lows. e majority of phone calls we get right now are … ‘Can I jump in right now?’”

New data for January from the Colorado Association of Realtors has median home prices attening statewide. Houses are taking twice as long — sometimes three times longer — to sell compared to a year ago. But that’s not very long. In the seven-county metro Denver area, that’s 53 days, or about four weeks longer than 22 days in January 2022. at’s getting back to the time just before the pandemic, or 48 days in January 2020.

Home prices in Denver and Colorado increased at unprecedented rates in the past two years. Metro Denver’s median sales price hit a high of $660,000 in April, up 17.4% in a year. at dropped to $569,804, as of January, which is 1.4% lower than a year-ago January. As Littleton economist Patty Silverstein told the real estate industry at an economic summit last week, “We’re (in) some type of slowdown but that’s very welcome. We’re in a rest period here.” e slowdown began last spring as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to cool in ation. But mortgage rates have more than doubled in a year, making it much more expensive for home buyers who need a loan. Based on the Denver metro area’s median sales price, a buyer’s monthly payment is roughly $1,000 more than it would have been last January, according to Bankrate’s mortgage calculator.

“ e major thing we have seen is

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