Best Movers in Denver – 303-329-3217

As the average price for a single-family Denver metro home hit $371,650 in May, you’d think that buyers would pull back a little. That is simply not the case. Active listings for single-family attached and detached homes were up 39 percent in May to 8,401, compared with 6,023 in May 2013, and up 15 percent from 7,323 in April.

Time on the market has proven a difficult factor for the Denver real estate market, and homes are only available for an average of 29 days, a drop from last May’s 44 days on the market. So while more homes are available, they are more expensive and they are selling much quicker. The Denver real estate market is not sitting idle whatsoever, so if you are thinking of moving to Denver (or a suburb like Adams, Boulder, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Douglas, Elbert, Gilpin, or Jefferson, among other areas), we suggest you have your mortgage pre-approval ready so that you can present a solid offer when you find a home that interests you.

While 29 days is the average, homes that are priced under $350,000 are being sold in about a week. Even quicker, homes listed at $250,000 are selling within two days. If you want a Denver home, you better act quickly!

This March, Denver home prices saw serious growth over last year, with month over month comparison showing a 9.1 percent average rise in home resale prices. In addition to the annual growth, they were also up 1.4 percent from February. That month also marked the 15th straight month of year over year price increases at a rate of 8.9 percent or more. This consistent growth has now resulted in all-time high price points for Denver real estate.

According to data tracked for the Case-Shiller report, there were 20 cities analyzed and Denver came in at the top of list for cities with the highest home price growth and current average sales price. The February to March growth was enough to propel them to the top of the list. Denver’s Case-Shiller home price index for March was 148.20, meaning that local home resale prices averaged 48.2 percent higher than they were in the benchmark month of January 2000, which is higher than the previous all-time high for the area of 147.3, which was back in September 2013.

Buying a home in Denver is becoming a continually competitive and difficult market, especially for single-family homes rather than a unit without a multi-family building. The Case-Shiller prices are for resales of stand-alone single-family homes only, not for new construction or condominiums, and are meant to reflect price changes for comparable home inventory. Case-Shiller does not report actual home sales prices.

The job market is thriving in Colorado, according to recent reports that show the state logged its 30th straight month of job growth in April, adding 13,900 nonfarm payroll jobs and driving unemployment down to 6 percent, the lowest since November 2008, according to a report Friday by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. People moving to Colorado are driving demand for jobs in the service sectors, including leisure and hospitality, which added 4,500 jobs, education and health services, up 3,800, and professional and business services, up 2,400. In addition, financial activities added 1,900 jobs and construction added 1,500 jobs, according to reports in the Denver Post.

Moving to Denver has become increasingly popular over the last year, and as the job market grows, the inventory of available housing will run out, and available units will become increasingly competitive. Aside from residential troubles, there are some other problems that Denver and other Colorado cities might start to encounter, such as the fact that future job growth might be constrained by labor shortages in key sectors such as construction, oil and gas, technology and manufacturing. The rate of unemployment is already below 3 percent for some management and professional occupations important to the state’s high-tech sector.

Currently, there are shortages among electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, sheet metal workers, welders, roofers and all types of equipment operators. Ever since the market crashed, the labor trades related to construction and home building saw a decline not only in active employees, but also in students studying for these particular trades. Recent job fairs from two large Colorado universities saw only about 120 graduates in these sectors this last semester.

Recently, an article was shared on Silicon India that named the 8 most popular destinations to launch your startup company. According to the article, which cites Forbes magazine as the resource for its findings, the cities are ranked on their technological advancements, including social media activity.

The number one place was San Diego, California, and Denver was close behind. Denver is rated as the second best place to set up small business according to Forbes for various reasons. With its low cost of living, determined Mayors like Michael Hancock and Governors like Hickenlooper who want to improve and create high quality of life and environment that will foster innovation, Denver is rightly ranked as the second best place for a startup. Denver also has some very big startup companies like TrackVia, Photobucket, SendGrid, Cloudzilla, Chipotle Mexican Grill, ReadyTalk and many more.

Moving to Denver has proven tricky for many as the job market has been so steady that residents rarely wish to leave. This might be the only real hurdle you would face in launching your startup in the Denver metro. Other popular cities for startups? Austin, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Dallas and Boston. Thinking of launching your startup and not sure where to go? Researching each of these areas and seeing if one is right for you might be a great place to start.

As the Denver real estate market continues to be one of the hottest in the country, the time that available homes are spending on the market is decreasing significantly as the demand continues to grow and inventory runs dry. Potential buyers are left with few, if any, housing options that fit their individual needs and wants. Job growth remains steady and thriving in many career sectors in Denver, and people who are already established in Denver have little desire to leave. This is due to a variety of reasons, from refinancing to school systems, job security to overall satisfaction with lifestyle.

The most in-demand price range for buyers right now is anywhere in the $200,000 to $300,000 range — even up to $350,000. Local insiders encourage prospective buyers to remain focused and attentive on what they want, so that you can act quickly when something meeting your criteria hits the market you can make an offer. If a home goes up for sale at that price and it’s priced right, experts said sellers are looking at an average of eight offers within two to three days. Having your mortgage pre-approval and a hefty down payment can help you secure the sale over competing bidders. The most bids that a recent available home garnered? 16 competing offers!

Thinking of moving to Denver? Be sure you have the flexibility to buy quickly and you might want to consider renting in the interim, though the rental market is showing increasing popularity as well.

There is a new wave of multi-family residential developments hitting Denver, but the rise in inventory is not resulting in a drop in rental rates to make things more competitive. In fact, rental rates are going up and low vacancies are remaining in place, due to the high demand of people who wish to move to Denver. Every county in metro Denver (Adams, Araphaoe, Boulder/Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson) saw its average rent climb, while the average vacancy rate fell from 5.2 percent to 5.1 percent in the fourth quarter. Here’s a breakdown of each county’s average monthly rent and vacancy rate for Q1, via data compiled by the Apartment Association of Metro Denver:

Adams: $988, 4.7 percent
Arapahoe: $1,026, 4.5 percent
Boulder/Broomfield: $1,228, 6.7 percent
Denver: $1,093, 6.8 percent
Douglas: $1,262, 3.7 percent
Jefferson: $1,033, 3.4 percent

Hopefully, once the projects that are under construction are completed, the saturation will help push down the rental rates throughout the metro. According to reports, there are more than 70 new apartments in Denver, some of which are under construction currently and some are coming soon. As for recently completed projects, there were 657 new apartment units built in Q1.

In Denver, it is no secret that the market is hot, hot, hot. But while the time is right to buy in Denver, is the time also right to sell? Let’s take a look.

Recently, the lack of homes for sale in the Denver area has pushed up prices and made the market a difficult one to navigate, particularly for those interested in buying. The average single-family home sold for $310,992, according to Metrolist, which was up five percent when compared both to February 2014 and March 2013. The number of active listings in March was up 21 percent when compared to the previous year.

But there is a chance that by flooding the market with more available properties, the exclusivity of the real estate in the area will be diluted. For now, there are certainly tight inventories for those interested in buying a home in Denver.

As of late, Denver seems to be passing every other city in each sector of real estate. Residential sales are off the charts, home prices are skyrocketing, and now, even the industrial sector of the local market is getting some attention. According to the Denver Business Journal, vacancy rates stood at 4.6 percent in the quarter, down 0.4 percent from a year earlier, the report said. And lease prices are finally climbing towards pre-recession levels, with Q1 rates up 9 cents from the previous quarter, to $6.19 a square foot. The industrial momentum is expected to last well through the remainder of 2014.

Industrial real estate in Denver is really growing along interstate 70, and there is 3.1 million square feet of new industrial space under development in the area. The lowest vacancy rate, as always, was central Denver at 1 percent (there’s only 13.5 million leaseable square feet), and Longmont recorded the highest average vacancy rate at 17.5 percent.

While it might have seemed like the Denver real estate market couldn’t get any stronger, the prices for the area have shown that there is still room for improvement, as CoreLogic Inc.’s latest home price index (HPI) showed metro Denver homes sold for an average of 9.7 percent higher in February than they did a year earlier. That number included the sale of distressed, or foreclosed, properties in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area. Prices were already significantly higher than other metros throughout the US, and the demand in Denver is alive and well, driving prices higher and increasing the competition between interested buyers.

Moving to Denver is a popular trend for many as they look for a place to settle down in the western US. As a whole state, Colorado is one of five states to reach new home price highs, and they aren’t showing signs of cooling any time soon.  

As home prices rise in the Denver area, it may seem that the urgency to buy would lessen as prospective buyers shy away from high prices. While there are plenty of people ready to buy massive homes in Denver, there is a significant portion of the local population who prefer to rent. To say this rental market is booming is an understatement. Rental rates in Denver are also growing significantly, making it hard for many people to make ends meet living alone.

A review of census data found that one in four renters in the Denver area are severely rent-burdened. That means more than 50 percent of their income goes towards rent. Unfortunately for people renting in Denver, there’s no good short-term solution. No big affordable housing projects are being built in the area, and many of the apartments that are being constructed are higher-end smaller units in and around downtown.