According to October sales data, combined single-family and condo transactions from the 7-county Denver metro area surpassed those of the previous October, the first time in five years that October data improved year-over-year, according to a new report issued by RE/MAX Professionals.

RE/MAX Professionals President Leeann Iacino has been chosen as Residential Real Estate’s Power Book Newsmaker for 2009-2010, by the Denver Business Journal.

“This is a positive change, underscored by the fact that the totals were substantially better than October 2008’s, almost an 11% increase,” said Jack O’Connor, a senior partner in RE/MAX Professionals and author of The Monthly Report. O’Connor added that three or four months of monthly increases over the previous year would portend price increases.

The Report, compiled from the latest Metrolist data, shows 3,708 transactions closed for single family and condominium units last month, up from 3,341 units for October 2008, and substantially higher than 3,398 units that closed during October 2007. O’Connor added that the 19,761 single-family and condo listings on the market as of the first of November represent the lowest inventory in more than five years. Single-family listings are down almost 18% over the past year; condos down over 12.6%.

O’Connor noted in the report that the numbers partially reflect the success of the federal first-time buyer tax credit, which had been scheduled to expire at month’s end, but has now been extended in a new package that will also include benefits for existing homeowners. Sold data for October, he added, reflected a 4% increase over sales during September—counter to typical fall performance that averages a 3% drop in sales, October from September.

Under-contracts—the number of homes awaiting a closing as of the first of the month—also stand at the highest level in five years, up 1,131 from the total awaiting closing a year ago, O’Connor added. “This partially reflects the longer time that transactions are taking to close this year, due to the number of pre-foreclosure transactions, loan modifications and short sales reflected in the numbers, all involving more transaction time,” O’Connor said.

For sellers, the data suggest that the early winter months may not be an adverse time to put a home on the market, O’Connor suggested. “There are fewer properties to compete with today, and serious buyers are buying now, particularly with the credit available,” he said. Fourth quarter, he added, is also is a time when relocating buyers typically enter the market.

Last December, O’Connor’s Monthly Report had predicted that reduced inventory particularly in the lower price ranges would drive prices upward in 2009 on Denver area homes priced below $250,000, at around ½% per month. That, O’Connor noted, has turned out to be conservative; actually increase for the price range during 2009 has run around 8%, or around ¾% per month appreciation. O’Connor reports that he expects appreciation to gradually affect higher ranges in 2010.

“Sellers can expect to see around 100 sales a day between now and Christmas,” said Leeann Iacino, President of RE/MAX Professionals. She added that the company has closed over $1.193 billion in 2009 Denver area sales through October. RE/MAX Professionals has seven offices serving Denver from the Denver Tech Center, Highlands Ranch, Denver West, Cherry Creek, Southwest Plaza, South Jefferson County and Castle Pines. For a copy of The Monthly Report, contact Jack O’Connor at 303-268-0597. RE/MAX Professionals is on the web at PrestigiousDenverHomes.com.

-END-

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 5:07 pm and is filed under Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.