Here are the latest 7 county MLS stats for the month of March courtesy of REColorado and SMDRA. Great if you are one that likes to chew on numbers. Reality is that the market remains red hot. Don’t miss out!
4,931 properties closed last month, up 10.5% from March of last year and an increase of 17.2% from March 2019. Detached homes saw the smallest increase in sold properties with 3,271 sales, a 5.4% increase from last year. Attached homes saw a HUGE increase in sold properties with 1,660 sales, an increase of 22.1% from a year ago and an increase of 30% from March 2019.
New listings in March dropped by 10.4% from March 2020. This is REMARKABLE considering that COVID shutdowns began last March!
· 1,661 attached homes were newly listed last month, down 11.5% from a year ago.
· 3,891 attached homes were newly listed last month, down 9.9% from a year ago.
Pendings soared up 30.5% to 5,508 properties placed under contract. This was an increase of 9.3% in March 2019.
·Average days in market dropped by 10 days year over year to just 18 days.
·Median days in market dropped by 2 days year over year to a miniscule 4 days.
·We ended March with only 1,582 properties for sale. This puts months of inventory at a scant 0.32 months or 9 days! The average closed price in March for all properties was $579,203, an increase of 15.2% or nearly $77k from last March. Attached homes saw their average sold price increase by 9.3% or $35k to $413,522.
Detached homes saw their average sold price increase by 19% or $105k to $663,285.
·The median closed price in March for all properties was $498,500, an increase of 13.3% or $58k from March 2020. The median closed price for attached homes rose by 6.7% or $22k to $350k. The median closed for detached homes rose 16.7% or $80k to $560k.
·The average Closed to Original List Price Ratio hit an amazing 103.4%. This means homes are selling for 3.4% ABOVE LIST PRICE on average.
Attached homes sold at 101.6% of list price, so even condos and townhomes are selling above list price now on average. A $350k list price on an attached home sold for $355,600 on average.
Detached homes sold at 104.3% of list price. Thus, a $500k list price on a detached home means they sold for an average of $521,500 last month.
Here are some first quarter numbers for us—
· So far this year 14,022 properties have been newly listed for sale, the fewest in the last 5 years by 226 units versus 2018.
· This year new listings are down by 1,439 properties or 9.3% from last year.
· In the first quarter buyers placed 14,093 properties under contract, the highest amount ever seen. This was the first time with more than 13k properties, not to mention 14k properties under contract!
· From 2017 thru 2019 on average buyers placed 12,784 properties under contract in the first quarter. Thus, demand is up 10.2% this year!
· In the first quarter 11,736 properties closed, the best year ever in the last 5 years! The second-best year was 2020, still closings are up 5.3% from last year.
My Thoughts, Comments, and Observations—
· We had the fewest number of new listings this March in the last 5 years with just 5,552 new listings. The previous low was 5,773 in 2019.
· Buyers placed 5,508 properties under contract last month by FAR THE HIGHEST NUMBER ever recorded in March. From 2017 to 2019 buyers placed an average of 5,071 properties under contract. This is an increase of 8.6%.
· This March saw the highest number of closings in the last 5 years. The 2nd best year was 2017; but closings this year were up 7.2% from even 2017.
· Buyer demand is starting to soar for attached homes as these start becoming the FIRST choice for many FTHBs as detached home prices may be out of reach for them. I thought this would happen.
· The average closed sales price for detached homes has exceeded $600k for 6 consecutive months, hitting $663k in March. I won’t be surprised if this number is over $700k by May.
· The average closed sales price for a detached home has risen by $197k since 2017. Homeownership pays off!
· A buyer in 2017 who thought they would wait until they could put 20% now has to save an additional $40k to buy a home. How many of these buyers do you think can do this? We can probably count them on 1 hand. This is why people need to buy a home as soon as they can. But, often first-time home buyers don’t think they can buy a home yet. THIS IS WHY THEY NEED TO TALK TO ME ASAP!
· Even the median closed sold price of a detached home has risen by $155k since 2017, an increase of 38.3%.
· The median closed sold price of an attached home has risen by $90k since 201, an increase of 34.6%.
· Median days in market dropped below 5 days for the first time ever in March, down to 4 days.
· Average days in market dropped below 20 days for the first time ever in March, down to just 18 days.
· Median days in market doesn’t hit double digits until the $800k price range at 12 days in market.
Buyer demand continues to soar while supply of new listings continues to drop. Thus, inventory levels keep plummeting and prices keep soaring.
· Since last June Pendings have been increasing year over year by an average of 21.8% every month!
· Solds have been increasing year over year by an average of 13.1% every month.
· In the last 6 months of 2020 new listings increased by an average of 11.4% every month. But, this year new listings have been dropping year over year by an average of 9.2% every month.
· In June 2020 we had exactly 1 month of inventory. Now we are down to 0.32 months of inventory or 9 days of inventory. Don’t you long for the days of 1+ month of inventory?
· In turn median sold prices for all properties are up 12.3% from $442k to $498k since last June.
· Median sold prices for attached properties are up 8.4% from $323k to $350k since last June ·Median sold prices for detached properties are up 17.4% from $477k to $560k since last June.