Denver's Housing Market Is Vastly Different Than The Rest Of The U.S

The Denver real estate market continues to show significant signs of improvement while other parts of the nation continue declining or remain stable. Yesterday Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, one of the nations largest mortgage lenders, upgraded 12 Front Range counties from "distressed" to "stable". Mr. Bryant, a company spokes person said : "I think this is great news for Denver, great news for Colorado. We had challenges earlier than many of the other real-estate markets in the country, and it appears our recovery is happening before others."

This may not seem to be earth shattering news for most of us, but it is very informative for anyone considering buying a home in the Denver area. No one wants to purchase a property in a declining market. Well, since April of this year, one indicator after another have been showing up to indicate that Denver has turned the corner regarding its housing market. Yesterday's latest vote of confidence as indicated by Wells Fargo easing of loan requirements along the Front Range is recognition of a healthier housing market.

As far back as April 14th my blog revealed that I was seeing considerably more under contract and sold signs throughout Denver. I predicted that the general Denver market would see across the board appreciation of housing price by the end of 2998.

May 8, 2008 I discussed eight specific area subdivisions were showing appreciation

On June 25, my blog revealed a .5 percent appreciation of property values for the the month of April.

My July 7th blog revealed that the available housing inventory dropped 9.7% in the past 12 months - a very strong indicator that the Denver housing market was improving.

Denver's market has strengthened in part because of a 20 percent drop in available housing inventory over the past year, according to August data from MetroList.

Thomas Thibodeau, academic director for the CU Real Estate Center in Boulder was quoted as saying "It's about time" Wells Fargo upgraded the area. The fact of the matter is that the housing market here is vastly different than the rest of the U.S. I think the Denver housing market has turned the corner and is on the way to recovery." Professor Thibodeau also stated that the Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller home price index shows the Denver market to be healthier than the nation as a whole.

Throughout my 30 years as a Realtor, this time of year has shown a significant decline in the number of buyers in the market. So, I would expect that even with this latest good news, that buyers will not enter the market until next year. January has historically been one of Denver's best months for the number of under contract properties. All of these indicators should show up in force in 2009. Next year's home sales in Denver will be well above 2008 month for month.