The Denver CO real estate market remains the 21st largest market in the nation with nearly 13,000 single family permits issued in 2006. But, even this impressive market can't shake the housing slump that has gripped the nation.

Denver CO real estate traffic remains depressed like it did in September, primarily due to tighter lending. Homes just aren't as affordable due to the lack of mortgages in the lending industry. Banks just aren't as willing to lend money as they were six months ago.

Even those real estate agents that had good traffic in their agencies had a difficult time qualifying buyers. Buyers also had difficult times coming up with the minimum down payments- again a sign of the tightening lending industry that just six months ago was handing out 90% and 100% loans like candy on Halloween. In fact, the self-employed no doc loans have entirely disappeared, removing entire sectors of real estate traffic from different agencies.

Denver has a high percentage of first-time home buyers as well as buyers with poor credit. This is one of the main reasons why Denver is nearly leading the country in foreclosures.

Denver did experience a decrease in new construction as home prices continued to fall in October. This helped reduce overall housing inventories. But the time to sell index continued to worsen because of the weak level of overall real estate traffic.

What does this mean for you? It depends on your perspective. If you currently are renting, have a stable job with steady income, and you can come up with a traditional 20% downpayment on a home, you are gold! Now is the time to go looking for that brand new home. Bargain with the seller. If they are a developer and have dozens of homes on the market, they are going to be willing to come down considerably on their prices.

If on the other hand you own your home and were hoping to buy something new, your picture isn't nearly as rosy. You won't be getting as much for your home as you were hoping. Which means you might not be able to come up with the necessary 20% down on that beautiful new home you've been dreaming about. And this is assuming you actually are able to sell your home.

And if you're a builder, perhaps it's time to reconsider starting that next home. Take this time to shore up your investments and refigure your bottom line. Perhaps dropping a bit more off the price isn't such a bad idea. Can you think of any alternative marketing measures you can take to sell your homes?

Just recently a couple, desperate to sell their home, added this to their offer: Buy our home and when we die we will give you your money back.

They had three offers that very day.

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