DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver metro housing market’s expense is nosing back up to record levels after a year of cooling off, driven in large part by a consistent lack of inventory.

The Denver Metro Association of Realtors released the May 2023 report on the 11-county region of the Front Range that makes up the Denver metro area. According to the release, the metro is still struggling to put as many homes on the market as it used to.

“While new listings rose 8.87 percent month-over-month to 5,180, the market is still down 23.94 percent from last year when it had 6,810 new listings,” the report reads. “For perspective, throughout the previous 10 years, inventory this time of year tends to be in the mid-7,000s, with the height in May of 2019 of 8,796.”

DMAR reports buyers are moving more slowly due to the tight inventory and high-interest rates, and sellers are making more concessions on prices. The Denver metro has the nation’s fifth-highest share (58.1%) of sellers who offered concessions at closing.

Still, lower inventory is pressing prices back to record levels.

The median sales price for a detached single-family home was just north of $650,000 in May, not quite to the $680,000 record set last April. Previously, the median price had dipped below $600,000 but has been rising since January.