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2430 Julian Street Denver, CO 80211
3 bedroom, 1 bath
$294,000

Smack dab in between Sloans Lake and Highland Square. All new kitchen, bath, windows, furnace, water heater, detached garage, double lot and more. This home shows pride of ownership. Easy access to I25, downtown and mountains. Great neighborhood. Motivated seller!

Metrolist: NE Denver, S Aurora tops for home resales

Monday, June 8, 2009

Denver Business Journal - by Paula Moore

Northeast Denver and southern Aurora had the most single-family home resales in the metro area at more than 1,000 in each area through May, according to Metrolist Inc. market-area data.

Year-to-date home sales in that part of Aurora were 1,149, while northeast Denver sales were 1,115.

Those sales, however, were down compared to the first five months of 2008 — from 1,376 and 1,182, respectively.

Still-strong areas with less than 1,000 home sales included southwest Denver (809), southeast Denver (759) and the central part of the northern metro-area suburbs (754), the Metrolist data showed.

The highest average selling prices for such homes through May were in the Boulder area — at $527,216 for the Boulder plains area and $663,311 for Boulder proper.

The mountain area of southern Jefferson County reported some of the lowest single-family home sales year-to-date, at two. Other low-selling regions included the mountain areas around Boulder (six) and northern Jeffco (15), as well as Louisville (22).

Lowest average single-family home sales prices were in areas such as southern Aurora ($92,230), southern Jeffco’s mountain area ($147,125) and the eastern part of the northern suburbs near Denver International Airport ($152,204).

Metrolist data by market was provided by Joe DeVito at Re/Max Alliance in Arvada.

Resales refer to homes that have been sold at least once before.

Looking at condominium sales through May, southeastern Denver and southern Aurora had the highest at 619 and 453, respectively. Those sales were down from 786 and 659 in the same period a year ago, respectively.

Downtown Denver had the highest average selling price for condos for this year’s initial five months, at $431,249.

Some of the lowest condo prices were in the northern Aurora ($74,642), southern Aurora ($89,638) and central Jeffco ($99,483).

Pending Home Sales Increase Nearly 7 Percent

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in April, rose 6.7 percent to 90.3 from a reading of 84.6 in March, and is 3.2 percent above April 2008 when it was 87.5.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says buyers are responding to very favorable market conditions.

"Housing affordability conditions have been at historic highs, but now the $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit is beginning to impact the market,” he says. “Since first-time buyers must finalize their purchase by November 30 to get the credit, we expect greater activity in the months ahead, and that should spark more sales by repeat buyers."

Geographical Breakdown

• Northeast: The Pending Home Sales Index shot up 32.6 percent to 78.9 in April and is 0.8 percent above a year ago.
• Midwest: The index rose 9.8 percent to 90.4 and is 11.1 percent above April 2008.
• South: The index slipped 0.2 percent to 93 in April but is 3.5 percent higher than a year ago.
• West: The index rose 1.8 percent to 94.8 but is 2.9 percent below April 2008.

NAR President Charles McMillan says there are numerous buyer assistance programs around the country.

"Some states are offering bridge loans that allow first-time buyers to use the tax credit for downpayment and closing costs, but there are many other local government and nonprofit programs available to buyers, depending on location," McMillan says.

Last week, HUD announced that qualifying buyers can use the tax credit for closing costs on FHA loans, to buy down the interest rate or make a larger down payment.

Affordable Housing

NAR’s Housing Affordability Index is in record territory. The affordability index rose to 174.8 in April from an upwardly revised 171.9 in March, which makes it the second-highest monthly reading on record after peaking at 176.9 in January of this year.

The HAI is a broad measure of housing affordability using consistent values and assumptions over time, which examines the relationship between home prices, mortgage interest rates and family income.

A median-income family, earning $60,900, could afford a home costing $296,800 in April with a 20 percent down payment, assuming 25 percent of gross income is devoted to mortgage principal and interest.

Affordability conditions for first-time buyers with the same income and small down payments are roughly 80 percent of that amount. The affordable price was well above the median existing single-family home price in April, which was $169,800.

Pending vs. Existing Sales

Yun cautions that the reporting sample for pending home sales is smaller than that of existing-home sales, so it is subject to greater variability.

"In addition, the relationship between contracts on pending home sales and closings on existing-home sales is taking longer than in the past for several reasons,” he says. “Mortgage processing time has increased, it is taking many months to close on those homes requiring short sales with lender approval, and some sales are falling through at the last moment."

The total number of existing-home sales is expected to improve but with dramatic local market variation in the timing of recovery. "The market has already bottomed in some areas, but this is an unusual housing cycle with some areas improving rapidly while others languish or decline," Yun says.

Existing-home sales for May will be released June 23. The next Pending Home Sales Index will be on July 1.

Source: NAR (06/02/09)