Denver Region September Home Sales

The number of homes sold in the Denver region rose above the year-earlier level for the third consecutive month in September, but the sales tally still ranked as the second-lowest for that month in at least 13 years. The median sale price fell slightly from both August and a year earlier as the level of investor and cash buyers edged higher, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 3,715 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in September across the eight-county Denver-Aurora metro area. That was down 11.7 percent from August but up 19.3 percent from a year ago, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A drop in sales between August and September is normal for the season, partly because many families try to close escrow and move before school starts in late summer. On average, sales between August and September have fallen 8.6 percent over the past 13 years.

The Denver area's 19.3 percent year-over-year increase in total sales during September followed annual sales gains of 32.7 percent in August and 7.6 percent in July. Sales had fallen year-over-year during the preceding 12 months.

September sales fell 28.6 percent below average for that month and were the second-lowest - behind September 2010 - for any September since at least 1998, when DataQuick's complete Denver-area statistics begin. Sales of both existing homes as well as newly built homes were the second-lowest in DataQuick's statistics.

The 31,076 new and resale houses and condos that sold in the Denver region between January and September this year marked the lowest level on record for that nine-month period.

The Denver metro area statistics in this report and in the table below reflect sales in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Park counties.

The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Denver region during September was $210,000, down 2.3 percent from August and down 3.2 percent from a year earlier.

The September median was 15.2 percent lower than the Denver area's peak $247,569 median in June 2006. After peaking, the region's median sale price fell to as low as $170,000 in January 2009. Extremes aside, though, the median hasn't changed a lot in the last seven years.

An alternative price gauge analysts track, the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, inched up to $139 in September, up 1.5 percent from August but down 4.1 percent from a year earlier. The September figure was 18.0 percent lower than the peak $169 paid per square foot in March 2001.

At the county level in September, the median price paid per square foot for resale houses fell from a year earlier across most of the region. Among the larger counties, the year-over-year decline was 1.9 percent in Adams County; 5.4 percent in Arapahoe County; 1.0 percent in Denver County; 1.4 percent in Douglas County; 2.3 percent in Jefferson County, and 12.2 percent in Park County. The median paid per square foot rose 5.7 percent year-over-year in Broomfield County and increased 15.3 percent in Clear Creek County.

Absentee buyers, a group that includes investors and vacation-home buyers, accounted for 25.1 percent of the Denver area's September home sales, up from 22.5 percent in August but down from 28.4 percent a year earlier. Absentee buyers paid a median $144,000 in September.

Buyers who appeared to have bought with cash represented 26.5 percent of September sales, up from 22.8 percent in August but down from 27.9 percent a year ago. All-cash buyers paid a median $152,286 in September.

Government-insured FHA loans, which are popular with first-time buyers and others using low down payments, accounted for 34.1 percent of all home purchase loans used in September, up from 34.0 percent in August but down from 38.8 percent a year earlier.

Short sales - transactions where the sale price fell short of what was owed on the property - made up an estimated 10.1 percent of the Denver region's resale transactions in September, up from 9.4 percent in August and 9.0 percent a year earlier.

In neighboring Boulder County, 357 new and resale houses and condos sold in September, down 26.8 percent from August but up 10.2 percent from a year earlier. The median price paid for all homes sold in the county during September was $287,875, down 4.0 percent from August and down 6.8 percent from a year earlier. Boulder County's median price paid per square foot for resale detached houses fell in September to $183, down 10.7 percent from August and down 9.4 percent from September 2010.

Denver-Aurora, CO MSA*

Number of sales	Sep-10	Aug-11	Sep-11	YOY % Chng
Resale houses	2,187	3,088	2,633	20.40%
Resale condos	595	743	723	21.50%
New homes	332	377	359	8.10%
All homes	3,114	4,208	3,715	19.30%

Median sale price	Sep-10	Aug-11	Sep-11	YOY % Chng
Resale houses	$225,000	$225,000	$219,900	-2.30%
Resale condos	$123,000	$128,000	$122,461	-0.40%
New homes	$315,679	$295,000	$310,223	-1.70%
All homes	$217,000	$215,000	$210,000	-3.20%