Denver’s high-end luxury homes – those priced at $1M or more – took a steep jump in June 2011 compared to both the prior month of April and June of 2010. It seems Denver’s luxury home buyers are taking advantage of today’s market – lower home prices and interest rates.

According to Metrolist, the Denver are multiple listing service, 71 homes sold for more than $1 million in June 2010 compared to May’s number of 47. June’s high-end home sales also bested the numbers from June 2010, which recorded 67 luxury homes sold.

If June’s numbers are indicative of any lasting real estate trend, there are other reasons to be encouraged about Denver’s luxury market: High-end homes are selling faster and for more money! The average days on market dropped to 164 days in June compared to 215 days in April. In addition, prices averaged 92.6% of the asking price, which is up from 91.3% in May 2010 and 90.4% in June 2010.

Is this a true real estate trend? Maybe. Maybe not. It’s fairly common to see the luxury home market uptick during the summer months. That is considered the best selling season for Denver real estate. The fact that the numbers are an improvement over 2010 is reason to be optimistic, however.

The biggest issue right now is consumer confidence. Home buyers are skittish. While there is too much hype and false information out there about the mortgage industry, it is also true that more people are holding onto cash reserves instead of plunking down that money for a large down payment. Since the government doesn’t appear to have a clue about how to improve the economy, consumers are nervous about making high-end purchases.