The Housing Market is Finally on the Decline: Here’s What You Need to Know

By Jaren Reece     April 5, 2023

Jaren Reece: Skyler Kraai’s business card as well as his notebook and work laptop at Coldwell Banker.

The cost of living had been climbing to unprecedented heights in Colorado for years, and alongside us, the rest of the United States was seeing similar results. People ultimately became fed up with trying to maintain such an unreasonable standard and decided to migrate from states such as Texas, Florida and California and settle here in the Grand Valley. Up until just very recently, the red hot market started to cool off a little bit, and homeowners and first time buyers alike are starting to rejoice. 

Grand Junction is a destination to be desired for those looking to find a home. It’s a great place to settle down, start a family and receive an education at any level including collegiately. Along with the median age range being 39.2 years, another large demographic that exists is the 20-25 year olds, the prime age for first time home buyers and college aged students (World Population Review). This figure will only continue to grow as well. Colorado Mesa University and Grand Junction as a city steadily gets larger each year, and as the town grows, the supply and demand for houses will climb as well. 

The great news is that the housing market will forever remain a constant; there will always be a need for homes so you should never have to worry about finding a place to call home!

Now for the statistics.

According to Redfin the average price of a home in February of 2023 was down 10.7% compared to last year. The median sale price sits at just over $356,000, and in February of 2022, the median sale price was $400,000, bringing the differential between this year and last year to $44,000. Coldwell Banker’s own Skyler Kraai was able to offer insight about the downward trend of the housing market. “It is going to keep going down from this point because interest rates are finally dropping,” Kraai said, “There’s a “housing bubble” forming right now because the mortgage rates are so high and there aren’t as many houses available. Also houses are staying on the market longer right now because there aren’t as many people looking to buy.” While the market is declining, experts do not believe it is going to crash any time soon. 

Jaren Reece: Coldwell Banker Distinctive Properties Rookie of the Year Skyler Kraai in his office.

Like Kraai had mentioned, selling a home is taking longer than it usually has in the past. In a moderately competitive market (Redfin scores it as a 52 on the complete scale) such as Grand Junction, homes are sitting on the market for an average of 66 days, which is 16 more than last year. “It’s kind of a seasonal thing. Usually towards the end of the summer months when students are going back to school, the amount of sales go up and houses are off the market pretty quickly then.” 

Finally, in terms of homes selling over the listing price and the competitiveness of the market, the numbers follow a similar trend in that they are down from years past. Homes are selling at about 2% below the listing price; about 9.8% of homes are sold above the listing price which is down a whopping 20.3% from last year at this time (Redfin). 

The housing market in Grand Junction is at long last on the decline, things are already trending in a promising direction and realtors from the area all agree that the ballooned price rates will soon be more suitable. If you’re looking to buy a house soon, you might just have the stretch of good luck that you’ve been waiting for!

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