Q1 home sales in Denver area slide 10.6%

Median price falls 1.3% to $235,000 in 6-county region

John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 21, 2007 at midnight

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The number of new and previously owned homes sold in the six-county Denver area fell by 10.6 percent in the first quarter, compared with the first three months of 2006.

There were 13,318 home sales in the first quarter, compared with 14,889 a year earlier, according to a report by La Jolla, Calif.-based DataQuick Information Systems.

DataQuick uses public records to track the sales of all homes. It also breaks down sales by individual ZIP codes.

The report shows that the median, or middle, price of all homes dropped 1.3 percent to $235,000 from $238,000 in the first quarter of 2006 in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties. DataQuick includes Broomfield in its Boulder County statistics.

"There is no evidence of a rising market, no matter how you slice it," said Andrew LePage of DataQuick.

On the other hand, first-quarter sales in 2005 were down 13.1 percent from the same period in 2004.

"It does appear that the decline in sales is easing," he said.

And the Denver area is in a different part of the cycle from other previously hot markets, such as Las Vegas and Phoenix, he said.

"You have been weaker longer than other markets and did not have the run-up in prices in 2004 and 2005," LePage said. "Your market stands out because it has been the flattest the longest. But at what point Denver might level off is hard to predict."

Another national report released this week ranked the Denver-Aurora area as unlikely to have a downturn.

The PMI Risk Index ranked the Denver area as No. 38 out of 50, with a 16.9 percent chance of a decline in the next two years.

The Boston area was ranked No. 1, with the chance of a price decline measured at 55.3 percent in the next two years.

The Denver-Aurora area was ranked in the second-lowest risk category, which "is characterized by low to moderate levels of price volatility and (price) acceleration, affordability and employment," according to PMI.

One major market in the Denver area that did well in the first quarter was Broomfield, according to DataQuick.

In the Broomfield ZIP code of 80020, the median price of a home sold rose 24.3 percent, to $328,440, from the first quarter of 2006. And the 407 home sales represented an 8.2 percent increase.

"It is pretty huge," said Beth Skinner, a broker who specializes in the Broomfield area.

"I don't have the hard data in front of me, but in general, I would think that is more because of newer, bigger homes being sold more than appreciation," said Skinner of Team Hernandez Real Estate, Metro Brokers.

Six-county Denver region

2006 Q1 2007 Q1 % Change

Median price - all homes $238,000 $235,000 -1.3%

Sales - all homes 14,889 13,318 -10.6%

Median square foot resale, detached $166 $158 -4.8%

Median resale, detached $240,000 $237,500 -1.0%

Most expensive ZIP codes

ZIP Median price City

80302 $588,500 Boulder

80116 $557,450 Franktown

80007 $548,801 Arvada

Least expensive ZIP codes