Congratulations to the Denver Nuggets on their 2023 NBA Championship win and to all the amazing fans who supported the team through the season! We are lucky to call Denver a sports championship city for the second year in a row!
Additional congratulations to Mayor-elect Mike Johnston and all the Denver City Council members who won their respective races in Denver’s recent election. We support their efforts in collaborating to tackle the city’s important issues like housing affordability, homelessness, streamlining the development review/permitting process, and public safety.
Rental Market Insights –
In the first quarter of 2023, the Denver metro share of homes sold to real estate investors has fallen 50% from a year ago, the 12th highest rate among large metros, according to brokerage Redfin’s June data. Only 13.4% of homes were sold to investors, down from 15% a year earlier. Entering the summer months, investors continue to become more conservative as interest rates remain uncertain. Rent prices for multifamily apartments continued to decrease month-over-month in the downtown core while demand for private owner inventory (condos, lofts, homes, townhomes) remains strong.
Sales Market Insights–
As uncertainty in the economy and higher interest rates persist, buyers are experiencing a bit of fatigue as they wait for the perfect home or uncover a good deal. The condo market is moving more slowly too, with downtown Denver seeing the biggest decline in activity compared to previous years. Realtors have been following the rise and fall of rates with bated breath for the last year. The fact is, most people are making real estate and mortgage decisions if they need to right now, and the dramatic shift this year has been that people are no longer making real estate decisions because they’d like to.
Nationwide, sales of existing homes are down while new build sales are up nearly 12 percent from last year, and as it stands in this market, Builders have an edge over existing homeowners who are selling by offering incentives from mortgage rate buydowns to other freebies, but it’s unclear how long this will last. While elevated rates and affordability challenges remain, lack of existing inventory continues to be the biggest challenge for prospective buyers.
