Denver region June home sales rose sharply from May but remained at the lowest level for a June in at least 11 years. The median sale price increased on a month-to-month basis for the fifth month in a row, but was still 4.5 percent lower than a year ago, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 4,562 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Denver-Aurora metro area in June. That was up 31.5 percent from May but down 10.5 percent from a year earlier, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego, Calif. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records
The 4,562 new and resale homes sold in June marked the lowest total for any June since at least 1998, when DataQuick’s complete (all home types) statistics begin for the Denver region. June resales of condos rose 6.5 percent from a year ago – the only home-type category to post an annual gain. Sales of both newly constructed homes (single-family and condos combined) and existing (not new) single-family detached houses fell compared with a year earlier and were at record lows for a June.
The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos combined in June was $210,000 – the highest since it was $215,000 in August 2008. Last month’s median rose 6.1 percent from May but fell 4.5 percent from a year earlier. June’s median was 15.2 percent lower than the peak $247,569 median of June 2006.
Another price gauge – the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses – increased to $132 in June, up from $124 in May and the highest since it was $135 in July 2008. However, last month’s figure was 2.1 percent lower than a year ago and 20.7 percent lower than the peak $166 median paid per square foot in summer 2006.
A popular form of financing used by first-time home buyers – government-insured FHA loans – accounted for 47.5 percent of all June purchases, while absentee buyers bought 19.6 percent of all homes last month, according to an analysis of public property records. Absentee buyers are often investors, but could include second-home buyers and others who, for various reason, have their property tax bill sent to an address other than that of the home they’ve purchased.
DataQuick’s Denver MSA statistics reflect sales in Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Park counties (see MSA exclusions below).
Denver-Aurora, CO MSA*
| Number of sales | Jun-08 | Jun-09 | %Chng |
| Resale houses | 3,750 | 3,310 | -11.70% |
| Resale condos | 765 | 815 | 6.50% |
| New homes | 580 | 437 | -24.70% |
| All homes | 5,095 | 4,562 | -10.50% |
| Median sale price | Jun-08 | Jun-09 | %Chng |
| Resale houses | $222,000 | $220,000 | -0.90% |
| Resale condos | $136,400 | $135,000 | -1.00% |
| New homes | $324,248 | $291,800 | -10.00% |
| All homes | $220,000 | $210,000 | -4.50% |
*Data not available for Elbert and Gilpin counties, which are part of the Denver-Aurora MSA
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