As Realtors see appreciation in lowest ranges, Denver becomes the national market likely to come back first
When NBC’s Today Show ran a segment last week projecting Denver as the market with prospects for making the nation’s first comeback from the housing slump, more than a few Realtors were already expecting the news.
Becky Kenny of RE/MAX Professionals shows a listing at 179 Satsuma Place in Plum Creek, Castle Rock, priced at $699,000, backing to the Pete Dye-designed golf course.
“We’ve been predicting for six months that we’d begin seeing appreciation in the lowest price ranges, and that the effect would begin creeping into the middle ranges,” says broker Jack O’Connor, a principal owner of the newly combined RE/MAX Professionals. He issues a monthly report to agents on market prospects.
As builders and Realtors look to the data on sales issued at the first of each month, they’re seeing concrete evidence of price appreciation affecting homes up to the $275,000 range. O’Connor reports that homes in the 7-county Denver metro area priced $250,000 and below have seen around 3% appreciation since the first of the year.
All markets are local, of course, and some neighborhoods are faring better still, some not as well. Homes in the highest ranges are still battling too much inventory. In those higher ranges, O’Connor predicts, no significant appreciation can be expected for two years.
Meanwhile, O’Connor expects this month’s data to show increases in sales…and a modest increase in inventory levels, well within the bounds that will likely keep the price curve on the rise, at least for low to middle price range homes.
None of those factors were what figured into the analysis of nationally known real estate expert Barbara Corcoran, who gave Today viewers her picks of the five national cities most likely to recover first. Top pick, very best prospects in the nation: Denver.
“This city is clearly on a rebound,” Corcoran told viewers. “It’s really the perfect real estate success story. It had one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation for years running, and they’ve now cut that foreclosure rate in half. Prices are moving up just now for the first time after seven years of being down.”
Also figuring into Corcoran’s calculations in “most likely to recover” are job base, good weather, a well educated work force, an adequate supply of first-time buyers to fuel the move-up market, a relative lack of ‘over-building’ of condos and commercial real estate, and a vital downtown area.
Denver, she noted, is a young market, has one of the best park systems in the country, and home prices (average 3-bedroom, 2-bath home, acoording to MSNBC just $193,000) that look appealing, compared even to other cities that she ranked close on the list, also likely to do well in coming months: Raleigh, Austin, Seattle and San Francisco.
O’Connor notes that the Denver area is showing one of its lowest summer inventories of homes for sale seen in ten years.
“Watch for appreciation to begin creeping into higher price ranges,” he adds. O’Connor cautions sellers to know where their home is positioned relative to others, to negotiate a highest realistic price.
-END-
Tags: Barbara Corcoran, Denver, housing market, Jack O'Connor, NBC, Prestige Real Estate Group, RE/MAX Professionals, real estate market, recovery, Today Show
