Housing sales inventory out of balance in metro Denver - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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On the surface, the for-sale housing market appearsz nearly balanced, with an overall five-month inventory of homeas availablefor sale. But a different picturew emerges after examining inventory in specificprice ranges, with nearly no homes available at the lowest price ranges and a stockpile of as much as five yearsa at the higher pricer ranges, according to local residential real estate “This is a really unbalanced markeft overall,” said Lon Welsh, broker/ownef of LLC of Littleton. “I’ve never seen this big a disparit inthe market.
” Welsh has been tracking inventory data for 11 That lack of balancre affects home prices, driving up selling prices for low-en homes and causing high-end prices to drop. Metr Denver’s for-sale housing market generalluy is balanced with total inventory of six a level at which neither buyers nor sellerw have an advantage in the sales Butthe least-expensive homes for sale those priced at less than $85,000 — had less than one month’ s inventory as of May, according to Metrolist Inc.
data compiled by Your The low-priced home category, because of its small inventory, is a seller’s market, with some homez selling fast and sometimes for more than theasking price, according to a Your Castle report. On the otherf hand, there was a 16-month inventory of for-sale homesz priced at $460,000 and more in May. Homews priced at $1 million and more had a five-yeat inventory. The high-end housing category, with its large inventories andmotivatex sellers, is a “ver strong” buyer’s market, said the “Markets with more than a six-month inventory are showinvg some of the pain of the said Mark Trenka, broker/owner of of Denver and a director at the .
Your Castle’z data includes only single-family homes, both resales properties — those that have sold at leasr oncebefore — and newly builtr ones. Metrolist Inc., based in Greenwood Village, is metrp Denver’s Multiple Listing Service, providing data about real estate listingsto brokers. Here’z what the current, five-montb inventory of for-sale housing inventory means: If no new home listings came onthe market, and buyers kept buying at the pace they boughgt in the last year, it would take buyers five months to purchasse all the homes.
Lower-priced, for-sale houses in metro includingforeclosure properties, have such low inventory partlyu because investors are buying them to use as income-generating rental homes. Individuals trying to take advantage of the federapstimulus package’s $8,000 tax crediyt for first-time homebuyers, and planning to live in the housews they buy, also are competing for affordabl e homes. “You’ve got a lot of people chasingf few houses on the low Welsh said. “There’s hardly any inventor y in the lowerprice ranges,” said Gary Bauer, an independent Littleto n residential broker and Metrolist “The hot price range is $150,000 to $300,000.
” With homes put up for bid by the U.S. Departmenr of Housing and Urban buyers who will occupt the home have priority over investors to help leve l theplaying field. Investors often get an edge with over owner-occupants, by waiving home inspections, being willing to closde a sale quickly and offering large, nonrefundabld earnest money deposits. The robust, low-endx housing market also is helping to get rid offoreclosures homes, which are a drag on the overalo market, according to brokers. Metro Denver’s bargain homes tend to be locatexd in areas such asCommerce City, easterbn Aurora and northeast Denver.
For-sale homes in higher price ranges are sellinb slowly partly because some traditional buyers in those ranges are stayinhg in their current homes while they wait out the brokers said. The jumbo financing often used to buy pricy houses also is toughgto get. But buyers who can get jumbok loans have a good opportunity to geta high-enrd house at a relatively good price, sincre many sellers are willing to negotiatre on price, brokers said. Welsh expects the disparity betweenj low- and high-end for-sale housing inventories to continue for thenear future.