April brought both good and bad news for Denver homebuyers: On the bright side, the number of homes for sale rose substantially over March. Less welcome will be the news that home prices hit a new high.

According to the Denver Metro Association of Realtors’ (DMAR) monthly report, inventory rose to 5,160 last month. That’s 11.71% higher than in March (although still 3.75% lower than last year at the same time.)

The average sold price of a home rose to a record $487,082, representing a 3.91% rise over March and an 11.38% increase over last year at the same time.

Meanwhile, houses continued to fly off the market as fast as they entered. Homes spent an average of less than 3 weeks on the market, at 20 days.

The pace of sales is so fast, according to DMAR, that many real estate brokers are listing homes on Thursday, showing them on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and reviewing the offers on Monday morning. “If the property is priced and marketed correctly, that’s all the time it takes to get a contract,” notes the DMAR report.

As a result of the sizzling market, buyers continue to face extremely competitive bidding, particularly for homes at $400,000 and below. Many are offering 10% over list price, according to DMAR. While “buyers are saavy and aren’t willing to write offers on homes that are overpriced,” they are willing to participate in bidding wars when the property is well priced.

All told, “this demonstrates buyer demand remains robust,” notes Steve Damyliw, chairman of DMAR Market Trends Committee. “As new listings poured into the market, homebuyers that were waiting for them quickly gobbled them up…”

How long this will go on is anybody’s guess. Experts say that only one thing is certain: It won’t last forever. Notes Danyliw: “Housing activity remains strong but increasing interest rates, increasing housing prices, low inventory and now increasing gas prices will have an eventual impact.”