This 3-bedroom, 1-bath home at 4784 Claude Court in Denver, is priced at $99,950.
There is less than a week’s worth of inventory of single-family, detached homes priced below $100,000 in the Denver area, according to an analysis by independent broker Gary Bauer.
Bauer’s analysis of Metrolist data shows that at the end of August, there were only 127 single-family, detached homes priced below $100,000 on the market. That accounts for 1.5 percent of the 9,056 active listings in the metro area.
By contrast, there are 2,343 homes on the market priced between $200,000 to $299,999, accounting for 25.9 percent of the listings.
In fact, there are more homes priced on the market above priced at $2 million and above than below $100,000. There are 220 homes priced at least $2 million, or 2.4 percent of the listings.
“I believe we have a five-day supply,” of homes in that lowest price range, Bauer said in a phone interview on Friday.
Part of the reason is there are so few homes priced so low is because demand from investors drove them up, Bauer said.
“To me, this represents that the housing recession has come and gone and we are moving into a more ‘normal,’ market,” Bauer said. “The strength of the market is showing that people can buy homes in the higher-priced categories. They have a greater comfort level than they did in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.”
Bauer’s report also shows in the first eight months of the year, 1,212 homes priced below $100,000 traded hands, a 35.5 percent drop from the 1,879 that sold in the first eight months of 2011.
The most active price band was for homes between $200,000 to $299,999 on a year-to-date basis. Buyers purchased 7,907 in that price category in the first eight months of the year, accounting for 31.3 percent of all closings.
Through August, buyers purchased 25,222 single family homes in the Denver area, a 15.4 percent increase from the 21,861 purchased in the first eight months of the year.
This is a trend Bauer thinks will continue, but perhaps at a slower pace.
“I believe in the next year or two, we are going to see a 5 percent to 10 percent increase in the number of transactions,” Bauer said. “I also believe we will see some continued price appreciation. I am going to be very conservative and say I think we can expect appreciation of about 5 percent.”
In some hot neighborhoods, it already is a seller’s market, he said.
“In certain areas and neighborhood and in certain price categories, it is a seller’s market, but that is not the case across the entire market.”
Buyers seeking low-priced homes can still find them if they are willing to own a condominium, however. In the first eight months of the year, buyers purchased 1,809 condos below $100,00, according to Bauer’s report. That was the third most active price range. The single largest price band for condos was for units priced between $100,000 and $199,999. There were 2,565 closing int hat price range, accounting for almost 31.5 percent of the condo sales through August. Condos are often more difficult to finance than single-family, detached homes.
Price Range Single-family sales, YTD 2012 Single-family sales, YTD 2011 Percentage change
$0 to $99,999 1,212 1,879 -35.5
$100,000 to $199,999 6,878 6.879 -0.01
$200,000 to $299,999 7,907 6,124 29.11
$300,000 to $399,999 4,374 3,310 32.15
$400,000 to $499,999 2,210 1,615 36.84
$500,00 to $699,999 1,598 1,219 31.09
$700,000 to $999,999 667 512 30.27
$1 million to $1.99 million 332 270 22.96
$2 million and over 44 53 -16.98
Totals
Source: Gary Bauer, Metrolist25,222 21,861 15.37
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I think most people would include townhomes and condos within the definition of ‘home’