Quick links: March housing data | Condo market | Colorado imports vs. exports | Denver’s youth summer jobs | Reader poll | Other bits

After sitting on the sidelines and watching interest rates rise since 2022, a wave of Colorado homeowners put their houses up for sale last month, with new listings up 23.7% statewide and up nearly 30% in the Denver metro area compared with a year ago, the latest data from the Colorado Association of Realtors shows.

It wasn’t a large wave, though. Inventory is getting back to where it was before the pandemic. While that means more choices for buyers, it’s taking longer to sell a house. The supply of for-sale properties is now at 2.9 months, up from 2.5 a year ago. And it took a week longer to sell a house, or 64 days, compared with 57 days in March 2024, when mortgage rates were higher. In the Denver metro market, it took 54 days, up 22.7% from 45 last year.

“The market does feel slower now compared to the super competitive market a few years ago,” Cooper Thayer, a Realtor with The Thayer Group in Castle Rock, said in an email. “However, we are certainly not in a bad position, and the breathing room provided by a calmer market gives buyers more options and more time to take a methodical approach to their home search. The craze in the spring of 2022 was fast-paced and exciting for sellers, but forced buyers into difficult, quick decisions that added stress to the market.”

As homes sit on the market longer, prices are staying flat in the Denver area. Median sales prices rose a mere 0.8% from last year to $625,000 in the seven-county metro region. Statewide, median prices rose 4.7% to $575,000.

Agents around the state say negotiations are taking longer since buyers can be a little more picky.

“Not only do buyers have more choices at basically the same price, they also have longer to think about their choice, and they’re starting to see some lower interest rates — with FHA’s right at 6% — down from the 7% and 8% that we have recently seen,” Sunny Banka, a Realtor in Aurora, said in a news release.

But the lengthening time for a house to close isn’t just about more choices for buyers, said Kelly Moye, who works in the Boulder and Broomfield area for Compass real estate. She cited “the current economic unrest,” as a reason why buyers may be active, but choosy.

“It is taking homes longer to sell because the buyer demand is weak due to interest rates and lack of consumer confidence,” Moye said in an email. “I don’t think that sellers are stubborn about selling or holding on to high list prices, I just think the market is slow due to other external economic factors.”

She’s seeing sellers offering more concessions, “typically to help buyers buy down their interest rate to incentivize them to buy the house,” she said. In Boulder County, buyers paid 98.3% of the list price, a bigger discount than the average Denver metro area’s 99.3%.

In the Evergreen market, Realtor Julia Purrington Paluck said she’s been quite busy and has seen multiple offers on a property, but they’re “below asking price, deals that don’t reach agreement, and some that fall apart due to inspection or insurance issues.”

Every market is different, added Chris Hardy, a Realtor in Fort Collins, where the median home sales price was around $605,000 last month. It’s also taking “just over two months” for a sale to close. But Hardy shared what some of those differences are within the same market: Houses priced no more than $50,000 lower than the median price took 45 days to get an offer, while those priced no more than $50,000 higher took 19 days.

“Sellers in the below-median price point may be less likely to concede large concessions to help a buyer reduce their interest rates since the seller likely needs as much of their net proceeds as possible to purchase their replacement property,” he said. “Sellers and buyers in the higher price brackets may have a bit more flexibility on these two issues.“

The condo market (oof)

Then there are condos. This often more affordable housing option is now hurting due to the other costs of ownership that don’t show up in the price: the high cost of insurance that is pushing up monthly condo fees.

In Evergreen, in a county where new listings jumped 42.5%, the median price of condos and townhomes fell 5% to $403,750.

“Issues with condo insurance and a lack of new affordable housing have contributed to a 50% increase in inventory, leading to noticeable price drops,” Paluck said.

While 26.1% more condos and townhouses were listed last month than a year ago, the number sold dipped 4.3% statewide. The Denver-metro area had a 6.8% drop, and year-to-date is seeing a 11.4% decline in the number of condos or townhouses sold.

Condos also had a 3.8% drop in median sales prices to $409,000. The Denver metro area similarly saw a 27.6% increase in condo listings but a 7.1% drop in median sales prices to $390,000.

➔ Phoenicians, Angelenos and Dallasites searching for Denver homes. Denverites more than any other group of major city residents are looking for homes in Denver, at 60.5%, according to a new dashboard from real estate site Zillow. But the next top searches are lookie-loos hailing from Phoenix, Los Angeles and Dallas, at 1.2%, 1.1% and 1.1%, respectively. Zillow’s dashboard also shared the change from a year ago. Most notably, searching from Houston dropped 1%. >> View dashboard

Colorado imports more globally than it exports

While Colorado companies with global trade partners got some relief after the Trump administration “paused” higher tariffs on Wednesday, it’s a challenge to make orders, pay bills and even hire workers when the future hinges on a presidential whim.

And for some reason, prices still went up, even if tariffs haven’t fully kicked in. Caren Johannes, owner of the Amethyst Rose in Westminster, buys silver, stones and other precious metals for her jewelry business from all over, including a company in New Mexico. Prices are up 30% to 40% this year, she said.

“We actually had to buy less because of the (higher) cost of the material,” she said. “Depending on what happens with the tariffs, yeah, I probably will regret not buying more now.”

And then there’s China, which now faces 145% reciprocal tariffs from the U.S. On Friday, China retaliated against the Trump administration and increased its tariffs to 125%.

“I think everybody is starting to really get it,” said Gail Ross, chief operating officer of outdoor clothing company Krimson Klover. “This is not something that a small company can survive.”

The Boulder company sources its high-end merino wool sweaters from China because it couldn’t find any U.S. manufacturer to make the garments or work with the small 13-employee company. When it placed the order last October, the tariff was 7.5%. The sweaters haven’t arrived in the U.S. yet but now that tariff is more than 145%, which means Krimson Klover will have to pay 145% more than it had originally budgeted.

“There is no question that we have to pass this on to customers,” Ross added. “We can stiff our factories, which we’re not willing to do, or we only pass on a portion of that craziness. (But) if this continues a year from now, that price is going back to the customer —- not part of it, but all of it.”

As a reminder, Colorado imported $16.8 billion of goods from other countries last year. Exports to Colorado came in around $10.5 billion last year. About 87% of local companies that export are small businesses — or about 4,986 companies in 2022. More details from the state’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade:

• Top export partners: Mexico, at $1.7 billion; Canada, at $1.6 billion; China, at $800 million; South Korea, at $600 million; and Malaysia, also $600 million.
• Top import partners: Canada, $5.4 billion; China, $1.8 billion; Mexico, $1.1 billion; Switzerland, $900 million; and Germany, also $900 million.

Earlier: How Colorado’s business community is dealing with on-again, off-again tariffs >> Read story

ICYMI: Take the reader poll

The frenetic changes from the Trump administration along with existing financial chaos caused by rising insurance premiums and slowing job growth have generated a lot of economic news. It’s a challenge to keep up! So help us figure out what’s going on by taking the What’s Working reader poll.

>> Here you go: cosun.co/WWtariffs

Sun economy stories you may have missed

➔ What Trump’s “emergency” logging declaration could mean for Colorado’s U.S. forest land. The order affecting 100 million acres of public land comes on the heels of a separate Trump administration directive to expand American timber production by 25% >> Read story

➔ Colorado counties take control of wildfire protection as DOGE slices federal funding. With Chaffee County leading the charge and Gunnison and Lake following suit, officials are stretching every dollar to protect their communities. >> Read story

➔ Colorado governor signs bill halting expansion of hard liquor sales in grocery and big-box stores. Senate Bill 33 was brought as a way to protect small businesses that sell alcohol from further economic decline following the expansion of beer and wine sales in grocery stores. Supporters worried Gov. Jared Polis would veto it. >> Read story

➔ Colorado ditches plan to trade utilities’ wildfire liability for insurance funding. Homeowners may foot the bill instead. A 0.5% fee would be imposed under House Bill 1302 on every home insurance policy in Colorado unless a house meets certain wildfire mitigation standards >> Read story

➔ Rural Colorado teachers could earn thousands of dollars more across state lines, study finds. Teacher turnover in rural districts skews higher, largely driven by chronically low pay, challenges with affordable housing and better career opportunities elsewhere >> Read story

➔ Could a small southern Colorado town’s tech hub be replicated in other rural communities? Since opening in 2019, Emergent Campus Florence has filled the classrooms of an old school with 18 businesses and 120 employees. The economic impact of new tech jobs in the region is adding up. >> Read story

➔ Colorado taxpayers may have to pay for lawyers on both sides of Democrats’ lawsuit to dismantle TABOR. The lawsuit would essentially force taxpayers to pay for an effort to dismantle the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which was approved by voters in 1992 >> Read story

Denver’s summer youth job program offers $500 bonus

The Denver Mayor’s YouthWorks Initiative encourages residents between 14 to 21 years old to get a job this summer. A $500 bonus for those who work at least 100 hours by Aug. 15 is at play. The youths don’t even have to work in city limits but must live there. The gigs can’t be part of an unpaid internship or self employment.

According to the city, “funding comes from the $4.65 billion sale of the Denver Broncos to the Walton-Penner Group in 2022, which resulted in a $41 million refund to the seven counties and 40 municipalities in the Metro Stadium District.” For the summer job program, there’s enough $500 bonuses available for up to 2,000 youths, said Jon Ewing, a city spokesperson.

To kick off the effort, a city job fair is scheduled for today, April 12, between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at the Denver Police Protective Association and PPA Event Center, 2105 Decatur St. A second one will be May 17, also at 11 a.m., at the Lowry Conference Center at 1061 Akron Way. >> More details and registration info

➔ 90+ employers at regional job fair set for April 16. Hosted by workforce centers in Colorado and Wyoming, in-person job fairs are scheduled in Aurora, Westminster, Denver, Pueblo and Greeley starting at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. A virtual event runs simultaneously starting at noon for veterans and at 12:30 for everyone else. See which employers are scheduled to be at one of the fairs on this chart. >> View details, locations

➔ Veterans job fair on April 17. Hosted by DAV & RecruitMilitary, more than 55 companies are expected for the Denver Veterans Job Fair on Thursday at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. >> More info

Other working bits

➔ Denver inflation slows to 1.9% in March. The cost of energy fell 8.4% compared with a year ago, according to the Consumer Price Index for March from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But Denver-area food costs were higher with groceries up 1.9% and dining out increasing 5%. Also up: nonalcoholic beverages, up 4.6% and medical care, up 5.6%. U.S. inflation rose to 2.4% with food prices increasing 3% in a year. >> BLS report

➔ 100% of new Longmont United nurses union ratify first contract. Three years after unionizing, registered nurses at CommonSpirit Longmont United Hospital in Longmont have a contract. The three-year contract, valid through April 10, 2028, addresses staffing issues relative to floating hours, improves wages and creates a professional practice committee with monthly meetings between RNs and management, according to union organizers with National Nurses United. The union declined to share the contract.

➔ Don’t forget: Tax day is Tuesday, April 15. Tax-paying Coloradans are eligible for $177 to $354 back in state sales tax refunds (i.e., TABOR — see amounts). State officials also pointed out other ways citizens can save a little money on their tax bill. Roughly 47,000 taxpayers should have received a mailer about tax credits, including up to $1,200 from the Colorado Child Tax Credit for families with children younger than 6. The Family Affordability Tax Credit is up to $3,200 per child younger than 17. >> Details

Got some economic news or business bits Coloradans should know? Tell us: cosun.co/heyww

Thanks for sticking with me for this week’s report. Stay sane, enjoy the weather and as always, share your 2 cents on how the economy is keeping you down or helping you up at cosun.co/heyww. ~ tamara 

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