rising home inventory in denver reshapes market expectations
/
By Mark Samuelson | Published on July 3, 2025
Despite a real estate market where home inventory is growing and sales are lackluster, Denver home prices are still creeping up slightly — although the curve is flattening.
That’s according to a new Metro Real Estate Market Trends Report on June sales, issued Thursday by the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.
New expectations
According to analysts at DMAR, buyers and sellers have long been expecting mortgage rates to drop slightly, and for buyer activity to pick up. However, rates are still holding in the mid-to-upper 6% range, and agents are reporting that buyers are still very cautious.
At month's end, the report said, inventory of homes on the market remained over 14,000, the highest level since 2011.
Those steep rises in supply have run ahead of buyer demand, leading to longer times on the market before homes sell. Newly arrived listings during the month of June decreased slightly from May, but agents see that as typical coming into the summer months.
Median price climbed
Meanwhile, the median sales price for a single-family home in the Denver area still rose 0.13 percent last month, to $665,895, despite a growing supply.
Agents say that they’re seeing signs of price growth beginning to moderate and are reporting that many listings have seen prices cut, as homes await sale.
The median price of condos and attached homes in the area stayed virtually the same over the month, steadying at $400,000.
“The Denver metro real estate market at midyear 2025 is a study in recalibration,” said Amanda Snitker, chair of DMAR’s Market Trends Committee.
Outdated assumptions
“Buyers and sellers who began the year operating on outdated assumptions — expecting lower interest rates, surging competition or guaranteed appreciation — are now confronting a market that demands flexibility and realism,” she added.
Snitker cautioned that buyers and sellers who make decisions based on their expectations rather than on market realities risk missing out on opportunities and seeing deals slip away.
Meanwhile, the disparity between prices and inventory was particularly evident in the luxury home market, where 2,561 listings were priced over $1 million at month’s end, with prices per square foot climbing slightly to $381.
Detached homes priced over $2 million are now reaching an equivalent of six months of inventory, DMAR said. The month saw luxury condos and attached homes priced from $1.5 million and $1.99 million climb well into buyer’s market territory, to over 14.33 months of inventory.
“At the beginning of the year, two questions were on everyone’s mind,” said committee member Michelle Schwinghammer. “When would interest rates drop and how high would inventory rise?"
Slower pace
“Now at the mid-year mark, rates remain frustratingly high for borrowers.”
The median time on the market before sale climbed last month to 16 days for single-family homes, up 60% over May. Time on the market for condos and attached homes rose to 30 days, up 20%.
Agents and analysts fear that buyers, failing to see opportunities on the market, are increasingly gravitating to other projects such as deferred maintenance, repairs, and renovations, according to the report.
However, agents advised that there are costs to waiting. Well priced, attractive homes are still selling relatively rapidly, they add.
“The most significant shift is that buyers are waiting for their perfect home to bring an offer at all,” said Schwinghammer.
DMAR represents more than 6,000 agents in the 11-county Denver area. Report data, the association said, was sourced from REcolorado.