Is Zillow Right?

The DBJ ran a story last Friday with this headline—“Denver ranked #9 for cities with declining home values from June to July.” Zillow says Denver home values dropped by 1.8% from June to July, the 9^th largest drop in the country. I read that Zillow is now factoring in listing price drops into this calculation. Ugh! Listing price drops do NOT reflect home values! So, did Denver home prices drop in July?

Over the last 6 years average sold prices from June to July in metro Denver have dropped 5 times since 2017. The only time prices didn’t drop from June to July was in 2020 after you weren’t allowed to show homes from mid-March to end of May. So, Zillow is correct; but this happens every year because home prices in metro Denver peak in either May or June every year but 2020. Thus, this is NOT A NEWS STORY!!! This is normal for Denver.

Did prices drop more this year from June to July than previous years? Here are the numbers—

·        2022 price drop—3.1%

·        2021 price drop—3.4%

·        2020—no drop

·        2019 price drop—1.5%

·        2018 price drop—2.5%

·        2017 price drop—3.5%.