I love living in and selling real estate in the south Denver suburbs. Parker and Castle Rock continue to follow the Denver Metro Area real estate market with excellent activity, strong sales figures and rapid appreciation as well as limited inventory. Homeowners are certainly benefiting from the current market dynamics. would-be home buyers are finding some frustrations.
Homes for sale priced below $500,000 are often selling in less than one week. It is not uncommon for properties priced correctly to sell in the first weekend with multiple offers resulting in a bidding war. So, there are a lot of buyers loosing their dream homes. However, a good Realtor can often suggest a winning strategy for home buyers that can maximize their chances of having the winning bid.
At present, there are approximately 499 properties with a Parker or Castle Rock mailing address for sale. Remember, those address can include homes outside the city limits in unincorporated areas but with the city zip code. With 552 properties under contract and 679 closed transactions from January 1, 2015 to March 25, 2015, there is only a two month supply of homes available. A 4-6 month supply of homes produces a balanced market for both buyers and sellers with little appreciation. The present market thus strongly favors sellers and continued rising prices.
Home value appreciation can be clearly seen in the rising median sales prices. Parker has seen its median price for the first quarter of 2013, 2014 and 2015 rise from $325,000 to $352,750 and $385,000 respectively. Castle Rock has also experienced similar increases for the first quarter median sales prices. For 2013, 2014 and 2015, the median price has risen from $315,368 to $338,530 and $389,000. These types of increases rank the Denver Metro area as the third fastest appreciating market in the nation at 9.8% annual increase.
Days on market remain low with an average of 54 days. Prior to the market turn around in 2013, that figure was often 120 to 150 days or more for some price ranges. The average sold price to final list is also very indicative of the market. Parker so far in 2015 has an astonishing average sold price to final list price of 100%! Castle Rock is likewise very strong at 99.2%.
Parker and Castle Rock, like the rest of the metro area, are experiencing a unique period in the real estate market unlike anything ever experienced before. With over 27 consecutive months in the books of an exceptional market, no one is predicting how much longer it will last before the market returns to more sustainable levels.
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