The Denver housing market cooled off in December, but industry observers say it is poised to re-heat in the new year.
The latest statistics from REcolorado show that, typical of the holiday season, the market slowed in December. The number of active listings dropped 21% and the number of new listings dropped 32% from November to December. Prices also dropped—by 2%—in that time period, resulting in an average sold price of $393,565 versus November’s $400,349.
Meanwhile, homes were selling at a slower pace, spending an average of 34 days on the market in December, compared to 30 days in November.
Despite the slowdown, some experts predict that Denver will remain among the hottest markets in the country in 2017. A survey by real estate website Zillow, for example, ranks Denver no. 9 in the top 10 housing markets for the new year. Zillow lists Nashville at no. 1, followed by (in order): Seattle; Provo, UT; Orlando, FL; Salt Lake City, UT; Portland, OR; Knoxville, TN; Ogden, UT; Denver, and Sacramento, CA.
To arrive at this list, Zillow gave priority to places with quickly rising home values, low unemployment rates and strong income growth. For example, “Provo, Utah—one of three Utah markets on the list—has the lowest unemployment rate of the 10 hottest markets at 2.7%,” notes Zillow. And home values in all three Utah markets “are expected to appreciate more than 4% in 2017.”
Portland showed the strongest home value growth (15%) in 2016. “Housing experts predict that Portland, Seattle and Denver will continue to outperform the average national home value growth in 2017,” notes Zillow, which predicts that Denver area homes will appreciate more than 3.6%, compared to the national average of 3%.
Zillow also estimated which Denver-metro neighborhoods would be the hottest in 2017. As reported in the Denver Business Journal, the top five are:
1. City Center North (in Aurora) – 8.8% forecasted home value growth.
2. Centretech (in Aurora) – 8.7% forecasted home value growth.
3. Elyria-Swansea (in Denver) – 8.6% forecasted home value growth.
4. Globeville (in Denver) – 8% forecasted home value growth.
5. Westwood (in Denver) – 7.6% forecasted home value growth.
The Denver Business Journal didn’t offer any insights into why each area was chosen.