If you’ve spoken to any of our team’s agents over the past few months, you know that the biggest problem we’re facing isn’t Denver foreclosures, short sales or HUD homes. rather, the biggest issue we’re dealing with is the lack of inventory; There just aren’t enough homes to meet all of our buyer’s needs.
If you’ve been reading the news for the past 3 years, this may come as a shock, but the fact is that many people are holding off selling their homes if they don’t have to. This is causing inventory to plummet. And it seems that our anecdotal evidence is finally being reported.
Here’s a story from today’s Denver business Journal:
The inventory level of metro Denver single-family homes and condominiums continued to fall in December, holding a trend that has grown pronounced in the last couple of months, according to a report Tuesday drawing on Metrolist Inc. data.
The 12,531 homes on the market in December represented a 12 percent drop from November, and a 34 percent drop from December 2010, the report states. That number marked a 24 percent drop from December 2009’s 16,456 homes on the market.
“Prospective home sellers are still sitting on the fence,” said Gary Bauer, an independent, Littleton-based real estate broker and Metrolist analyst.
The continuing decline in inventory started in July and led Bauer to predict last month the level could hit 10,000 soon.
Read the whole article. Here’s what I’ve been saying for months, echoed in the article:
“I do believe that 2012 is going to be better than 2011, but I don’t believe it’s going to be a dramatic rebound,” Bauer said. “There’s going to be steady progress on transactions and prices, but not big increases. Everyone’s going to keep focused on the economy and that’s going to cause several prospective home-buyers to sit on the fence.”
It will be interesting to see how this inventory begins to affect prices. i still maintain our market is rebounding – very slowly.
If you would like to talk about Denver homes for sale, Denver foreclosures or Denver HUD homes, give our team a call at 303-726-1874.