Denver Home Prices Increase 16% in Second Quarter

The National Association of Realtors or NAR reported 2nd quarter statistics for over 100 metro areas today. Nationally, the median home price increased 4% in the 2nd quarter from the first quarter. The national median home price as of June 30th was $174,100, which is down 15.6% from June 2008.

NAR also reported that 36% of all home sales nationally in the 2nd quarter were distressed sales. What's a distressed sale? It's the sale of a property by a bank or a seller who owes more than the house is worth; otherwise known as a short sale. On average distressed properties sell for about 15% less than a privately sold home which drags down the median price from above.

For Denver our median price increased a whopping 16% in the 2nd quarter from the first quarter as our median price increased by over $30,000 to $223,700!!! That is a HUGE increase. It even surprised me by the size of the increase.

More and more reports are pinpointing the bottom of our real estate market to have been March 2009. The vaunted and highly publicized Case-Shiller Index also points to a bottom in March.

Remember the saying "buy low, sell high"? NOW is the time to buy.