New Home Sales Report

The Denver Business Journal released some key stats from MetroStudy's 3rd quarter new housing report that I will cover-

• Builders started 3,437 new homes in the 3rd quarter, up 4% from the 3rd quarter of 2018.
• From October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019 builders started 11,538 new homes which is a 11% decline from the previous year.
• Home builders closed 3,118 homes in the 3rd quarter, unchanged from the previous year.
• But, home sales from 10/1/18 through 9/30/19 increased 6% from the previous year to 12,357 sales.
• Condo starts "soared" in the 3rd quarter, up by 324% from 122 starts in the 3rd quarter of 2018 to 517 starts in the 3rd quarter of 2019.
• From 10/1/18 through 9/30/19 builders started 1,337 new condos, an increase of 35% from the previous 12 months.

It was amazing to see builders close on more sales than new homes started. This tells me there is very little danger of builders overbuilding currently. Second, builders closed 12,357 homes in a 1-year time period. From 1997 to 2006, builders built over 15,000 new homes a year for 10 consecutive years! And metro Denver's population back in 1997 was nearly 1 million fewer people.