Denver Has More Sellers Than Buyers Right Now
The headlines about the Denver housing market right now focus almost entirely on interest rates. And rates are real! We have written about them, we talk about them with every client, and we are not going to pretend they do not matter.
But there is another number in the Denver market right now that is not getting enough attention, and it matters just as much if you are thinking about buying.
According to data cited this week by 9News, Denver currently has 68% more sellers than buyers. Denver had 13,500 active listings in September, up about 2% from a year earlier, while homes going under contract fell 13% over the same period. Some homes are sitting 30, 60, even 90 days before going under contract.
That imbalance hasn’t been seen in years. And for a buyer who can make today’s payment work, it changes the conversation.
Is Denver a buyer’s market right now?
Yes. By most measures, Denver is in buyer’s market territory for the first time in years. More inventory, fewer competing buyers, longer days on market, and sellers who are paying attention to carrying costs in a way they simply were not in 2021 and 2022.
That does not mean prices have collapsed. The average sales price in Denver fell about 2% in September compared with a year earlier, a meaningful shift from the frenzy of recent years, but definitely not a crash. Sellers in the Denver metro largely have enough equity that we are not seeing the short sales and foreclosures that defined the last downturn. This is a slow market, not a distressed one.
But slow is not the same as stuck. And for a buyer, slow has real advantages.
What does a buyer’s market actually mean in practice?
It means the leverage has shifted. Not dramatically, not permanently, but measurably, and right now.
Homes are sitting longer, which means sellers have had time to reconsider their position. A seller who listed in July and is now in October with no contract has been paying the mortgage, the utilities, and the carrying costs for three or four months. That seller’s motivation looks different than it did on day one.
Sellers are weighing concessions more seriously than they have in years. Rate buydowns, closing cost credits, repair allowances, the tools that buyers used to ask for and sellers used to laugh at are back on the table. We have written about how a seller credit toward a rate buydown can move a buyer’s monthly payment more than the same dollar amount taken off the price. In this market, sellers are open to having that conversation.
Inspection repairs are back. In 2021, buyers were waiving inspections entirely to compete. Today, inspections happen, findings get negotiated, and sellers know that a buyer who walks over a bad inspection is hard to replace right now.
And the competition that defined the last few years, the multiple-offer situations, the offers over asking, the waived contingencies, is simply less common. A buyer who can make today’s payment work is often the only buyer at the table.
What is keeping buyers on the sidelines?
Mostly rates. And we understand that. At 7.4% on a 30-year fixed loan, the monthly payment on a median Denver home is hundreds of dollars higher than it was a year ago and over a thousand dollars more than buyers who locked in at 3% in 2021. That is not a small difference, and for buyers who cannot make the payment work at today’s rate, waiting might be the right answer.
But there is a second thing keeping buyers on the sidelines that is worth naming: the feeling that buying now, with rates this high, is a mistake. That the smart move is to wait for rates to come down and then buy.
The problem with that logic is that it assumes rates will come down, come down meaningfully, and come down before prices respond to the returning buyers. None of those things are guaranteed. Plenty of buyers waited through 2025 for rates to drop and watched them climb past 7% this fall instead.
The buyers who tend to do well are the ones who buy when the payment fits their budget, not when the rate feels comfortable in the abstract. If rates fall later, refinancing is an option. That is a bonus, not a plan.
What about sellers? Is this a bad time to list?
Not necessarily!
Sellers who have equity, a reason to move, and a realistic price are still closing transactions. The market is slower, and the days of listing on a Thursday and choosing from five offers by Sunday are largely behind us for now. But homes that are priced correctly, show well, and are in good condition are still selling.
What is not working is overpricing. Every dollar a seller asks above what the market will bear in today’s environment makes the buyer’s monthly payment worse at exactly the moment when buyers are most sensitive to that number. Homes that start too high tend to sit, and homes that sit tend to eventually sell for less than they would have at the right price from the start. We see that pattern repeat.
If you are a seller with flexibility on timing, fall and winter are slower seasons regardless of the broader market, and a spring listing with proper preparation may serve you better. We wrote about why the best spring listings start in October. That conversation is still worth having now if spring is your window.
If you need to move, now works. Price it right, handle the big-ticket items an inspector will flag, and be open to creative concessions. The buyers who are out there right now are serious. They have not been scared off by the headlines. That counts for something.
What should Denver buyers actually do right now?
Start with the payment, not the rate. Get pre-approved with real numbers at today’s rate, and figure out what monthly payment you can carry if nothing changes. That number tells you more than the rate itself.
Then look at what the market is offering. In a market with 68% more sellers than buyers, you have time. You have negotiating room. You have the ability to ask for things like concessions, credits, and repairs that buyers a few years ago could not even raise without losing the deal.
Talk to a local lender. Not just an online rate aggregator. A local Denver mortgage lender who knows the market, closes loans here, and can tell you what your specific scenario looks like in terms of rate, points, and whether a buydown makes sense for your situation.
And if you are serious about buying, do not wait for the market to feel comfortable. It may not feel comfortable at 6.5% either, or at 6%. The buyers who come out ahead are rarely the ones who timed it perfectly. They are the ones who bought a home that fit their life, at a payment they could carry, when the market gave them room to negotiate.
Right now, Denver is giving buyers room to negotiate.
Our experience. Your legacy.
Related reading:
- Denver Mortgage Rates at 7.4%: 6 Hard Truths for Buyers and Sellers Right Now
- Buying a Home in Denver for the First Time
- What Salary Do You Need to Buy a Home in Denver?
- The Best Spring Home Sales in Denver Start in October
- Why Your Neighbor’s House Sold for More Than Yours
External Links:
- 9News Denver housing market coverage: https://www.9news.com/article/money/markets/real-estate/denver-housing-market-more-sellers-than-buyers/73-0ee723eb-96ba-4294-ae28-c0fc8e528e98
- Colorado Association of Realtors housing statistics: https://coloradorealtors.com/market-trends/housing-statistics/