More homes are coming on the market in southern Colorado, and prices are starting to fall in some places.
The number of closed deals on houses in Pueblo and Fremont counties during April dropped nearly 20 percent and 37 percent respectively from the same time last year. That's according to a new report from the Colorado Association of Realtors. Median sale prices are down too, at $314,000 in Fremont County and about $306,000 in Pueblo County.
“Buyers just aren’t out there looking,” Pueblo-area broker David Anderson said in the report. “For those that are, lenders are seeing more and more who can't qualify with interest rates still in the 7 percent range.”
Fremont County-area broker David Madone said the increased number of listings gives buyers more choice and the median price range there “brings retirees from the Colorado metro areas and other surrounding states.”
In Colorado Springs, home sales were slower in April when compared to last year, while the median price hit $490,000, up nearly 7 percent from last April.
“The market is giving us mixed signals,” said Colorado Springs-area broker Patrick Muldoon in the report, noting values went up in April “which might lead you to believe things are great in the Pikes Peak region. But we need to address the elephant in the room. What is selling is upper-end homes. This gives an appearance of price increases despite the 6.6 percent drop in units sold and a 23.5 percent increase in active listings. I believe this is beginning to signal a market shift.”
According to Muldoon, he is seeing homes purchased prior to the 2022 interest rate hikes declining in value and prices in the rental market softening. “If we were in October, we would write this off as seasonal,” he said. “But we are in the springtime market, and this does not feel like a springtime market.”
The number of homes sold in El Paso County decreased about 8 percent last month, but median prices rose to nearly half a million dollars.
