| Latest Good News about the Denver Housing Market |
There are many foreclosures in the Denver metro area. Many families are struggling financially.
Much of the information printed in the Denver newspapers relates to the NATIONAL housing market, which indeed is suffering tremendously.
The Denver newspapers have consistently painted a bleak picture of Denver real estate. When positive information is printed it is usually in an obscure paragraph on page 3 of the business section.
The Denver housing market is actually very brisk at the moment.
All information listed below is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.
Updated September 17, 2008
There are 8 articles listed below by date of publication. #7 concerns the false information publicized in local news media about foreclosures in Denver.
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1) September 15, 2008. Wells Fargo, the nations largest home mortgage company, announced that the Denver metro area had been upgraded from "declining" to "stable". This means that the same borrower buying the same house this week would have to pay 5% less down payment or could get a 5% higher loan.
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2) The recovery in the Denver market began in April, 2008. Denver Multi Listing Service released April 2008 sales data on May 7.
$3.531 billion in residential real estate sales (including condominiums) were sold in the Denver Area in April of 2008
The equivalent of 3,531 one million dollar homes.
Or 13,962 homes at current market price.
That is an increase of 44% in number of homes sold over March 2008,
For the first time since 2004 average days on the market declined (a good sign) and the number of homes for sale declined compared to the previous year.
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3) Increased value of homes as measured by the national median price in the given years. Note that the median price of a home in the U.S. increased $94,600 from April 1997 to April 2007, which is a increase of 76% in value
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| Median home prices |
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| 1987 | 1997 | 2007 | |
| January | $82,900 | $123,400 | $209,300 |
| February | $85,600 | $121,200 | $212,400 |
| March | $85,200 | $123,700 | $216,200 |
| April | $86,000 | $124,700 | $219,300 |
| May | $86,000 | $128,000 | $221,900 |
| June | $85,900 | $131,400 | $229,200 |
| July | $88,300 | $131,000 | $228,500 |
| August | $86,500 | $131,600 | $223,700 |
| September | $85,500 | $131,300 | $208,600 |
| October | $84,600 | $129,300 | $204,800 |
| November | $85,000 | $129,500 | $207,300 |
| December | $85,400 | $131,400 | $205,000 |
| Source: National Association of Realtors |
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4) The Denver Post April 25, 2008. Page 5B. The Post reports that the Wall Street Journal stated that Denver was the third best housing market in the country because of a consistent reduction in the number of homes on the market and a reduction in the number of months it would take to sell all the homes now on the market. The Post also reports that Forbes magazine rates Denver as the 7th best market in the nation for home sellers.
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5) Fortune Small Business Magazine has concluded that the Denver area is one of the top 7 places in the United States to live and launch a business. (As reported on CNNMoney.com. http://robots.cnnfn.com/galleries/2008/fsb/0803/gallery.best_places_to_launch.fsb/7.html
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6) Forbes magazine has listed Colorado as the #1 state for economic growth in 2008.
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7) Colorado was HAS NEVER Been #1 in foreclosures in the nation. Because Colorado is the last remaining Public Trustee State in the nation, all of our foreclosures are reported twice, thus making it seem like we are the worst!
In an article on Thursday January 25, 2007 in the Business Section of the Denver Post, the Post reported that Realty Trac and the Post had reported there were 37,412 foreclosures in the six-county Denver Metro area in 2006.
When the Post actually contacted the Public Trustees in those 6 counties, there were actually only 19,000 foreclosures, half as many as were reported.
The Post continues to report approximately twice as many foreclosures as actually exist.