There is a litany of buzzwords that are flying around lately in the media attempting to characterize Denver’s Real Estate Market and stir up talk – “appreciation, high purchase prices, seller’s market, bubble, low inventory.” These broad brushstrokes don’t paint the whole picture and can be limiting and misleading to those who are thinking about selling or buying their home.

My company, Colorado Home Realty, publishes a blog every now and then and I thought their most recent one on micro-markets within Denver was a succinct and accurate portrayal of what’s really going on. So, below is what they had to say about today’s current state of affairs, using specific illustrations of a few micro-markets. Based purely on stats, this piece in some ways challenges what the general consensus appears to be with regards to the real estate market as a whole in Denver.

September stats did show metro Denver’s residential real estate market repeating a predictable pattern. Prices are up 10% to 12%. The number of homes closed is almost identical to last year. Inventory remains steady. Here are the actual numbers:

CHR Averages

This predictable performance of the overall market, however, conceals the fact that the market is not uniform in every neighborhood and area within metro Denver. There is micro-geographic variability in the market that creates opportunities for buyers and sellers at every time of the year.

For example, Fall is the season when home prices tend to moderate. While prices are generally up at double digit rates from a year ago, they are often flat or even retreating from early summer highs during the last few months of the year. This creates an opportune moment for buyers.

Zip code 80220 is a good example. Covering Hilltop, Montclair and parts of Park Hill, the average price in this area went from $530k last September to $605k in July. That average price has gone flat and now stands at $603k, creating a nice chance to get into that area before next Spring’s anticipated price increases.

Or how about zip code 80125, the area south of Chatfield Reservoir? The average sale price went from $438k last December to a high of $471k in May but it is now back down to $449k. You can actually buy right now and be closer to last year’s low price than to this year’s high price.

There are innumerable zip codes in metro Denver where buyers can take advantage of this seasonal moderation and retreat in home prices.

Sellers can get in on the fun also. Most are under the impression that in the real estate world, the best selling season is late Spring and early Summer. Home prices peak during that time, right? Turns out that this is not universally true.

Check out zip code 80121, covering the western parts of Greenwood Village and Centennial. In February, average sale prices were at a high of $702k. They then dipped to a low of $675k in May. Now they have zoomed up to $730k. Owners selling now in this area are doing better than they would have in the supposed Spring/Summer peak season.

Significant take-away: The market is not uniform. You see lots of news about price trends in metro Denver, but people are not buying or selling a home in Metro Denver. They buy and sell in Cory-Merrill, Highlands Ranch, or Bonnie Brae or western Arvada or Thornton- specific pockets of Metro Denver. The market in those areas may be behaving differently from the overall market as a whole.

There are literally hundreds of micro-markets within the Denver area based on geography, price range and property type. Depending on what you need to buy or sell, you can take advantage of local conditions that buck overall metro Denver trends. Reach out to me and we can take a look at the data which may tell a different story from the word on the street.