August home sales drop 11% from year ago

John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 8, 2006 at midnight

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August home sales activity in the Denver area dropped by almost 11 percent from a year ago but showed a 2.4 percent increase from July, according to studies released Thursday.

There were 5,673 previously owned homes placed under contract in August, down from the 6,351 a year earlier, when mortgage rates were lower. But the August number was up from 5,538 in July.

"It was a good August, but not a barnburner," said independent broker Gary Bauer. Bauerand Jerry McGuire of RE/MAX Professionals and Coldwell Banker Colorado released a report based on Metrolist figures .

"August was better than July, as people were getting into homes before school starts in the fall," Bauer said.

McGuire noted that the inventory of unsold homes dropped 1 percent from July, dipping from the record of 31,989 homes, to 31,664 in August.

"It's down maybe a month earlier than it usually is, probably because there are so many unsold homes out there," he said.

The average price of a single-family home sold in August dropped to $320,092, down from $328,721 in July, although it was up from $314,678 a year earlier. The median price of a home dropped to $252,900 in August, down from $259,500 in July. A year earlier it stood at $255,000.

McGuire said the decline likely is due to the mix of homes being sold, rather than homes losing value across the board.

"The high-end stuff around the Denver Tech Center has slowed down a little bit," he said.

McGuire said there was nothing in the data that surprised him.

rebchookj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5207

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