Denver-area single-family home prices up 4% in April from 2009

Tuesday, June 8, 2010, 8:41am

Denver-area single-family home prices up 4% in April from 2009

Denver Business Journal - by Mark Harden

Single-family home prices in metro Denver rose 4 percent in April from 12 months earlier, although they slipped a bit from March 2010 levels, according to a report Tuesday from Integrated Asset Services LLC.

The monthly “IAS360 House Price Index” report from IAS, a Denver-based default-mortgage services company, said the median single-family home price in a five-county area including Denver and Aurora declined 0.6 percent in April from the previous month, following a 0.7 percent monthly drop in March and a 0.2 percent rise in February.

But year over year, the index showed a 4 percent increase in the area's median price in April from the same month of 2009. That followed March's 12-month rise of 4.1 percent.

Nationally, median single-family-home prices rose 0.9 percent in April from the previous month, but declined 2.8 percent over the 12 months ending in April, IAS said.

The Denver-area figures are for five metro counties: Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson. Boulder and Broomfield counties are not included.

All five metro counties saw year-over-year median price rises in April, the report said, but only Arapahoe and Douglas counties experienced a month-to-month increase in April.

In the city of Denver itself, the median price rose 4.3 percent in April from the year-ago month but declined 2.9 percent from the previous month, IAS said.

The report said metro-area home prices are still below their 2006 peak by about 7.5 percent, and below their mid-2008 pre-recession level by 5.8 percent. Metro prices now are at levels similar to those of early 2004, IAS said.

The IAS360 House Price Index report broke down median single-family home-price changes in metro-Denver counties as follows over the 12 months ending in April:

• Denver — Up 4.3 percent.

• Adams — Up 3.1 percent.

• Arapahoe — Up 6.3 percent.

• Douglas — Up 6.5 percent.

• Jefferson — Up 0.4 percent.

From March to April of this year, median price changed in metro Denver counties as follows:

• Denver — Down 2.9 percent.

• Adams — Down 3 percent.

• Arapahoe — Up 4.5 percent.

• Douglas — Up 1.6 percent.

• Jefferson — Down 2.2 percent.

In the mountain states, prices declined 6.5 percent in April from a year earlier but edged up 0.3 percent between March and April of this year, IAS said.