Thursday, June 7, 2012

April Denver Home Sale Press Release

Denver Area April Home Sales


The number of homes sold in the Denver region rose year-over-year for the fourth month in a row in April but remained well below average. The median sale price edged above the year-ago mark for the second consecutive month and reached its highest level since June 2011, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 3,702 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in April across the eight-county Denver-Aurora metro area. That was down 1.0 percent from the prior month but up 9.1 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A small change in sales between March and April is normal. On average, sales between those two months have risen 0.4 percent since 1998, when DataQuick's complete Denver-area statistics begin. April home sales were 23.3 percent below average for all months of April since 1998. However, resales of houses and condos (excludes new-home sales) were 12.5 percent below average for an April, while new-home sales were 66.3 percent below average for the month.

During the first four months of this year Denver-area home sales totaled 12,646, up 11.2 percent from the same period last year.

The Denver metro area statistics in this report and in the table below reflect sales in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Park counties.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Denver region during April was $219,000, up 3.7 percent from the month before and up 6.8 percent from a year earlier. The median sale price has risen year-over-year for the past two months, and in three out of the last four months.

The April median was 11.5 percent lower than the Denver area's peak $247,569 median in June 2006, and it was 28.8 percent higher than the post-peak trough of $170,000 in January 2009.
The April median price paid for resale single-family detached houses rose 8.2 percent from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. The resale condo median in April rose 12.2 percent year-over-year, the third month in a row with an annual gain.

An alternative price gauge analysts track, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, rose to $143 in April, up 4.4 percent from the prior month and up 7.5 percent from a year earlier. It was the fourth consecutive month with a year-over-year gain. The April figure was 15.6 percent lower than the peak $169 paid per square foot in March 2001.

The region's larger counties recorded the following year-over-year changes to their median price paid per square foot in April for resale houses: Adams County, up 10.4 percent, marking the third consecutive month with an annual gain; Arapahoe County, up 4.7 percent, the fourth straight month with an annual gain; Denver County, up 12.8 percent, the fifth month in a row with a year-over-year gain; Douglas County, up 3.0 percent, the second consecutive month with an annual increase; and Jefferson County, up 5.2 percent, up year-over-year for the second consecutive month.

Absentee buyers, a group that includes investors and vacation-home buyers, accounted for 23.7 percent of Denver-area April home sales, down from 25.5 percent the month before and up from 22.9 percent a year earlier. The record was 31.2 percent in February this year. Absentee buyers paid a median $160,350 in April, up from $150,361 the prior month and up 18.8 percent from $135,000 year earlier.

Buyers who appeared to have bought with cash represented 25.5 percent of April sales, down from 28.0 percent the prior month and 25.6 percent a year earlier. The figure peaked at 32.8 percent this February. All-cash buyers paid a median $162,100 in April, up from $150,844 the prior month and up 17.5 percent from $138,000 a year earlier.

Government-insured FHA loans, which are popular with first-time buyers and others using low down payments, accounted for 32.7 percent of all home purchase loans used in April. That was down from 34.8 percent the month before and down from 40.8 percent a year earlier. FHA use in the current cycle peaked at 53.4 percent of all purchase loans in November 2009.

In neighboring Boulder County, 411 new and resale houses and condos sold in April, up 3.8 percent from the prior month and up 18.8 percent from a year earlier. During the first four months of this year, Boulder County sales totaled 1,308, up 17.9 percent from the same period last year.

The median price paid for all homes sold in Boulder during April was $303,500, down 5.2 percent from the prior month and up 1.2 percent from a year earlier. The county's median price paid per square foot for resale detached houses rose in April to $196, up 3.2 percent from the month before and up 2.1 percent from a year earlier.

See Denver Home Sale Chart at DQNews.com.

Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157

Source: DataQuick; DQNews.com

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