Michael RushReal Estate Broker, Keller Williams Realty DTC · Real Estate Broker at Keller Williams Realty DTC

January 2024 Greater Denver Real Estate Market Update 🏡

16 Jan 2024 · 3 min

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2:45

In this video, Colorado real‑estate guide Michael Rush provides his first market update of 2024 for the greater Denver area. He begins by discussing Federal Reserve meeting expectations, noting a roughly 19% chance of a rate cut on Jan 31 and a 90% chance of a cut at the March meeting. He then presents the latest housing statistics: median single‑family home price $731,000 (+4% YoY), median condo/townhome $470,000 (+0.9% YoY), demand up 4.8% YoY, new listings down 4.2%, active listings down 25.7%, price‑to‑list ratio 98.6% (up 0.1% YoY), and average days on market 45 (up 7.1% YoY). Rush explains that sellers are adopting a wait‑and‑see stance while buyers remain cautious due to still‑elevated rates. He highlights current buyer‑friendly options: seller concessions that can fund temporary rate buydowns, creative builder incentives such as 3‑2‑1 buydowns (e.g., advertised 5‑6% rates reduced to ~2.4‑2.5% in the first year) and enhanced lot premiums. He advises buyers to act now before rates fall further and competition intensifies, warning of future appraisal gaps and price pressure. For sellers, he notes it remains a good time to list, with expectations of even stronger market conditions in the coming months. He closes by offering his services to anyone needing help with Denver‑area real estate.

Chapters

Hey everyone, this is Michael Rush, your Colorado real estate guide, bringing you my first market update of 2024 for the greater Denver area. When the Fed meets on January 31st, that's going to really tell us some new information. Sentiment right now, there's about a 19% chance that they're going to do a rate reduction on January 31st, but there's a 90% chance that they're going to do a reduction on their March meeting. Now let's take a look at the greater Denver area statistics. We saw single-family home prices increase to $731,000, which is an increase of 4% year over year. We saw condo and townhome prices increase to $470,000, which was an increase of 0.9% year over year. We also saw demand pick up 4.8% year over year, so we're starting to see some more movement in the market. New listings are down 4.2%, and active listings are down 25.7%. It's just more of the same as sellers take the wait-and-see approach, and buyers are still on the sidelines because interest rates haven't come down that much, but it is coming. Close price to list price ticked up slightly, 0.1% year over year. That increased to 98.6%. Days on market also ticked up to 45 days, which was an increase of 7.1% year over year. Now, there are a couple unique things that you're still able to do right now as a buyer. You're able to get seller concessions oftentimes that help you pay for a rate buydown. that help you pay for temporary rate buydowns and prepare you for a refinance later this year or in 2025. There's also really, really creative things that builders are doing right now because they need to move inventory. So I'm seeing builders offer rates around 5%, 6%, and then offering a 3-2-1 buydown on top of that, bringing that rate down to 2.4%, 2.5% in some cases for that first year. And there's some just really creative things happening where they're offering you Better lot premiums, things like that. So I have several clients under contract and creative deals like that. If you want to do something as a buyer, I think your time is still right now. If you wait for these interest rates to come down, it's just going to be a madhouse, right? We're going to see those appraisal gaps again. We're going to start to see those prices start to push up. So now's the time if you're a buyer. And if you're a seller as well, it's, it's still a good time to list right now, but it's going to be really good in the months to come. So anyways, as always, if you need any help with real estate in the greater Denver area, I'd love to help you, and I hope you have a great week. Thank you.