July 2020 Residential Market Report

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The most consistent engine of growth in the communities across Colorado is the real estate industry. Sales of residential real estate as well as the sale or leasing of commercial properties yields a major influence on economic strategies, playing an expanding role in the strength of the financial foundations of our towns and cities, both rural and urban.

It will be the housing recovery, coming out of all four corners of the real estate industry, that will provide a strong foundation that allows businesses to recover as well. How quickly everything will bounce back and how far that recovery will go depends a great deal on the behavior of real estate consumers, especially how quickly they recover emotional equilibrium.

Through the spring, buyers remained very active in the market, and their numbers have swelled by those eager to take advantage of ever-lower mortgage interest rates. Suddenly finding ourselves challenged to rearrange work life to fit compatibly with home life has actually led many people to conclude that a new home is needed in order to accommodate employment changes that are going from temporary to permanent status.

However, the increased activity means buyers will likely be competing for less inventory. Those same tumbled rates are impelling home owners to also seek the benefits of lowered monthly payments through the refinancing of existing, higher rate loans.

The rental market, the investor market, and the sales market of existing and new build homes will all contribute to community growth as businesses reopen and resume pre-virus levels of operation.

As those low inventory levels have plagued our market for well over a year, year over year sales could really use a boost, and it looks like the summer market is geared to make that happen. A strong bounce in building will surely help in that arena.

Price changes will most likely fluctuate through most of July as adjustments are made, taking into consideration the rate of reopening for each area. Even so, sellers should see nice equity gains. Of the 9746 homes that were offered on the Colorado front range area market in June, from these 7993 that sold and closed, average sale prices of $530,690 are evidence of those gains. Days on Market is holding fairly steady, 32 in June compared with 31 in 2019.

Happily, predictions of a market operating at threadbare levels proved almost completely false, and affordability factors appear to be a major source of continued strong real estate sales all along the front range. These conditions are a reflection of buyer and seller determination more than the strength or weakness of the overall economy. This is actually an unprecedented market with excellent opportunities offered to both buyers and sellers. Contact your local RE/MAX Alliance Associate to discover how you can benefit from this market.