November 11, 2011 (Shirley Allen)
Monthly home sales in the Denver area followed seasonal fall trends and declined as expected from August to September but remained above year ago levels for the third consecutive month according to real estate information provider DataQuick.
A total of 3,715 new and resale homes and condos closed escrow in the Denver-Aurora metro area in September. Sales were 11.7 percent lower than August, but were 19.3 percent higher than in September of 2010.
Home sales in the region typically decline 8.6 percent between August and September and were the second lowest on record for the month, only surpassed in futility by September of last year. Sales were 28.6 percent below the average for the month.
It was the third consecutive month that year-over-year sales have increased in Denver which follows on the heels of a 32.7 percent annual gain in August and a 7.6 annual gain in July. Despite the improved performance over the past three months, sales for the first nine months of this year are at the lowest level on record.
Cash buyers accounted for 26.5 percent of the purchases in September, up from 22.8 percent in August but down from 27.9 percent a year ago. Cash buyers paid a median price of $152,286 for the homes that they purchased during the month.
Absentee buyers, usually investors and vacation homebuyer’s, accounted for 25.1 percent of all homes sold in September, up from 22.5 percent in August but down from 28.4 percent a year earlier and they paid a median price of $144,000 for their purchases during the month.
The overall median price paid for new and resale homes and condos in September was $210,000, which was down 2.3 percent from August and also down 3.2 percent from September of last year.
The current median price is 15.2 percent below the peak median price of $247,569 in June of 2006.
Short sales accounted for 10.1 percent of re-sales in September. That was up from 9.4 percent in August and up from 9.0 percent of re-sales in September of 2010.
Tags: DataQuick, existing home sales, Denver, distressed properties, resale homes, condos, cash buyers, investors, median price
Source:
DataQuick
