The Colorado Springs-area housing market had another month of declining home sales and increased inventory — evidence of buyers' reluctance to purchase homes as mortgage rates edge toward 7%.
A new Pikes Peak Association of Realtors market trends report for September showed:
• Home sales reached 1,294 last month, a 26.4% decline from September 2021, making it the fourth straight month of declining home sales on a year-over-year basis.
• Properties spent an average of 25 days on the market. That's more than twice the 12 days homes in September 2021 spent on the market.
• The median price of homes sold in September dipped slightly from last month to $460,000, making September the third straight month of falling prices. However, September's median home price was up 4.5% from the same month last year.
• The supply of homes for sale inched up to 2,690 in September, the most since July 2016 when 2,780 were on the market. Data showed the inventory of homes could last 2.1 months if sales trends continue, compared to the less than a month's worth of inventory for the same month last year.
The slowdown in the market comes after buying fervor reached a crescendo during the first half of 2022 after several years of buying frenzy led to a depleted home inventory and sales that ran thousands of dollars above asking price.
"It's actually a much more balanced market today than what we saw six months ago and what we've been experiencing for the last two years," Dean Weissman, a principal with The Platinum Group Realtors, said. "The problem is that the message is very hard to get relayed to buyers because of buyer reluctance just based on looking at, 'Oh my gosh, rates are at 6.5%.'"
Despite elevated interest rates, Weissman said buyers have ample opportunity to find the right home as prices slip down.
"We are seeing list prices overall kind of settle down just a tad," Weissman said. "So (with) the optimistic list prices that we were seeing — we're actually seeing a lot more price reduction."
But Weissman said that doesn't mean homes are depreciating, rather the rate of appreciation is decreasing.
"What we seem to have lost is kind of the fluff money. ... People are not willing to overpay but we're still seeing good, clean, well-priced properties — we're still seeing multiple offers in those situations," Weissman said.
He expects the market will continue to flatten a bit, but not for long.
"We still have statistically low inventory levels and we still have a pretty robust buyer pool," Weissman said. "I don't want to say that this is entering a new normal, because I think it's still going to stay fairly active."
Read more on The Gazette.
Get more like this on Realtor.com
Related Links
Biggest Kitchen Renovation Ripoffs: 6 Features That Are a Waste of Money
Young people earning $100,000 or more are fleeing California and New York—here’s where they’re going
If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.
