Denver home sales, particularly those of lower-priced Denver homes that are proving attractive to first-time home buyers, have been boosted in recent months by buyers wanting to take advantage of the federal government’s $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit before it expired. The credit was set to expire Nov. 30, but Congress on Thursday extended the credit to 2010. As expected by real estate industry professionals, the credit was expanded to include some existing homeowners looking for new homes as well as first-time buyers.
Total October resales, which are sales of homes in Denver that have been sold at least once before, increased 2.9 percent to 3,958 from 3,846 the month before. Those sales were down 7.6 percent year over year, from 4,282 resales in October 2008.
Total sales include both single-family homes and condominiums.
In Denver single-family home sales rose 1.7 percent to 3,052 in October from the previous month, but were down 9.86 percent from October 2008. During the same period, condo sales increased 7.22 percent to 906 from September and 1.12 percent year over year.
Metro Denver home resales increased in October from September, but were down from October of last year, according to a Metrolist Inc. housing report released Friday.
For the first 10 months of the year, total home resales were down nearly 15 percent to 35,512 from 41,683 year over year.
The average selling price for both housing types was $261,771 last month, down from $274,433 in September, but up from $250,172 in October of last year.
Other key data from the Metrolist report includes:
• Average selling price for single-family homes in October was $261,771, while the average for condos was $161,451.
• Median selling price for houses last month was $222,000, compared to $135,000 for condos.
Median is the midpoint between highest and lowest selling price, and is considered by some real estate experts a better indication of price than average because it’s not skewed by price extremes.
• Average days on the market for both types of home was 93 — a 3.13 percent drop from September and a 2.11 percent decrease from October 2008.
• Year-to-date average total sold price was $241,653, which was down 4.64 percent from $253,419 from the same period of 2008. The average selling price for a house dropped 4 percent to $263,328, while condo price decreased 7.1 percent to $160,382.
The newly passed federal homebuyer tax credit legislation will allow buyers who sign home purchase agreements by May 1, 2010, and close on a purchase before July 1, to use the credit.
First-time buyers, which include people who haven’t owned a home in the previous three years, will keep their home-buyer tax credit of as much as $8,000. The new legislation adds existing homeowners, who have been in their current home for at least five years and want to buy a new one, and allows them a credit of as much as $6,500.
The tax credits apply to principal homes costing $800,000 or less, and excludes vacation homes.
Posted by: Jeffery McClintock
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